Girl of the Year 2019: Blaire Cooks up a Plan

Published: 2019. Author: Jennifer Castle. Illustrator: Suzanne LaGasa

Summary

Blaire's enjoying the start of fifth grade, thinking hard about a service project (all fifth graders at her school get involved in this way). She's soon presented with a bit of a distraction: Marco Gonzalez, the host of one of her favorite shows, Room Revolutions, stopped by out of the blue to see the renovated barn, which he learned about from the magazine spread. And he ends up staying a few nights at the Wilsons' inn! He even invites Blaire and Thea (there for a sleepover) to the set of this latest project--and she gets to be on camera for part of the show (with her parents' permission)!

It isn't long before Blaire gets inspiration for her service project. It starts with donating clothes she and her brother outgrew, which is how she starts talking to Beckett's classmate Abby, about how Abby doesn't like vegetables, which gets her thinking of recipes that present vegetables in kid-friendly ways, which ends up teaching her that some families can't reliably get all the ingredients for her recipes (or food in general), which inspires her to organize her class into making healthy food kids will enjoy to donate the to food bank. But, as is common with Blaire, she doesn't quite think things through. For example, she volunteers the restaurant kitchen and ingredients from the farm without asking her parents, and doesn't know where or how to buy enough jars to keep the food in. Her parents do want Blaire to be able to see her project through, so they help her plan it out--with restrictions and limits.

Soon, Blaire has donations and a schedule sorted out. She need her classmates on board to help, though, and she's especially hoping that the new student, Eli, will cooperate. He's standoffish, but Blaire thinks that's just because he's not used to the school yet. She wants to help him feel welcomed. She's thrilled that not only is her whole class excited for her idea, but that Eli signs up to help as well. Blaire seems to have learned her lesson from the summer too; she over-commits herself one day but realizes her mistake and politely declines another commitment and is able to fully enjoy having her classmates over to harvest ingredients for the pasta sauce they're going to make a donate. Eli is there, and gets along fantastically with Beckett and Abby. The following day (Monday) Eli brings in brownies for his birthday, and quietly mentions to Blaire that they're dairy-free...and that he'll join the class that night to make the sauce. Seems he's settling in!

But when the class is busy prepping and cooking, Eli spends part of the time filming instead of helping. And he wanders by the stove where Blaire's mom is working, and as Blaire tries to get him out of the way, some of the sauce spills. Blaire is extra upset that they run out of jars before Abby can get one--if Eli hadn't been in the way, they could have had enough!

Marco reminds Blaire that even a little bit can help, and can inspire bigger things. After all, seventy-six people still got nutritious, filling, homemade food.The point really gets hammered home a few days later when Eli shows what he was filming: a video good enough to look professionally edited that ends with a call for donations to the food bank (the whole class absolutely loves it). Blaire talks things over with Eli, who reveals that his father recently died. They used to make videos together, and this is the first one Eli's made since his father got sick. It seems to have helped Eli in his grieving process. After talking and understanding each other better, Blaire and Eli are friends.

Eli's video sparks something else: Eli shares it, with the proper permissions, and donations start pouring in. The family moving into the home Marco is renovating sees it too, and wants to jump right into being part of their new community...by sponsoring a kitchen renovation at the foodbank that Marco will spearhead. Volunteers will be able to cook food there (food donations have to be from professional-level kitchens) and the food bank can offer cooking classes to help people learn efficient ways to use their food. And it all started with a chain reaction stemming from donating old clothes.


Misc

Dedicated to "my grandmother Sadye Garonzik, who showed me what it means to make a difference."

The first Blaire book was dedicated to a Sadie (and a Clea). The author has two daughters; if Sadie is one of them or another family member, I wonder if she's named for the author's grandmother.

Before Blaire donates some of her favorite-but-too-small clothes, she takes pictures of them to remember them by. That's a good solution to getting over the conflict of giving away something you enjoyed but can't use anymore.

A lot of school buses nowadays have video monitoring. Kids can report an issue to the driver (who has to pay attention to a lot of things and might not see every problem with the students) and then the video can be reviewed and appropriate disciplinary action taken.

There are a few recipes at the back of the book.

Girl of the Year 2019: Blaire

Published: 2019. Author: Jennifer Castle. Illustrator: Suzanne LaGasa

Summary

Life on the Wilsons' Pleasant View Farm in upstate New York is hectic: it's a farm-to-table restaurant and bed-and-breakfast inn that just recently began hosting weddings. But Blaire wouldn't have it any other way. She loves having people around and making them happy by providing excellent customer service and even better homemade food. What she doesn't like is her new dietary restrictions: Blaire was just diagnosed with lactose intolerance, and it's severe enough that lactaid-type pills don't work, and no amount of dairy, even in baked goods, is safe. She's definitely not used to the new precautions she had to abide by. Her best friend Thea is thoughtful enough to get Blaire a dairy-free cupcake at Thea's birthday party so Blaire isn't left out of the celebration, but Blaire feels too conspicuous eating a separate dessert and having to explain why to everyone. And her younger brother Beckett is taking Blaire's place as taste-tester for their mom's new recipes, which stings.

Blaire is grateful for things to keep herself busy so she doesn't get stuck moping. A few baby goats and helping the farm manager's boyfriend plan a surprise marriage proposal are just the ticket. And after the farm manager, Cat, says yes to her boyfriend, Gabe, there's a wedding to plan! Especially since they really want to get married in eight weeks (Cat's brother, Lorenzo, is going to deploy with the Marines, and she's always planned on Lorenzo walking her down the aisle since their father died). That means the barn needs to be ready by then--and Cat thinks hosting such a happy even as Cat's wedding will convince her maternal grandfather that hosting weddings is a good idea for the family business. Cat's like another grandchild to him.

Cat and Gabe are happy to have Blaire help with the planning, but she soon discovers she might in over her head when Gabe's mother (his father and Cat's both parents have passed away; Cat's brother is her only living family), communicating over email, assumes she's a professional, not to mention adult, event planner. Fortunately for Blaire the misunderstanding is cleared up before it gets to be too big of an issue. Still, caring for the goats and lambs and chickens, planning a wedding, renovating the barn, and being a junior bridesmaid...it's a lot for a pre-teen. Especially when Cat wants a rustic theme and her soon-to-be-mother-in-law is hoping for more fancy. But it's enough to come up with excuses to not go on her usual summer outings with her friends--the ones that have too many things she can't enjoy anymore, like ice cream.

Blaire does such a good job avoiding reminders of her lactose intolerance that she doesn't even know Thea gets the part of a dance duet at the fair (she knows Thea is dancing there, but not so big a part) and misses some of the performance responding to texts about Cat's search for a wedding dress. Thea finally lets out her frustration with Blaire, pointing out how Blaire is always searching her phone or tablet for wedding ideas while their friendship atrophies. For her part, Blaire is upset that Thea keeps bringing up Blaire's intolerance. She already knows what she can't eat, she doesn't need Thea talking about it all the time. But all that pales in comparison to the next fight...

Blaire and Cat are talking when Gabe comes in with the announcement that his mother contacted Empire State Wedding magazine and it wants to do a spread on their wedding. Blaire's parents agree it would be fantastic publicity for the wedding. But no one talked to Cat about it. Her desire for a more rustic wedding was already getting steamrolled, and now wedding reporters will be judging her wedding? She declares she and Gabe are on a break--and the wedding is off.

It's time for some disaster control. Blaire talks with her grandfather, who encourages her to go discuss the fight with Thea--in person, not over text. They make up, and quickly write up a fake play script that they insist Cat and Gabe help them with. As the two adults humor them and read the lines, they soften a bit and make up. The wedding's back on--with Cat and Gabe in charge of how it will go, and just one reporter from the magazine (Cat and Gabe's way of saying thank you to Blaire's parents for hosting the wedding). Gabe's mother is still eager to help, and finds a way to do so without making it her vision of a wedding. And Blaire even gets back into cooking again. She still can't eat everything on the menu, but there are things she can eat, and it's nice to not feel sick now that she avoid dairy. Plus, she can still be happy that the wedding guests will enjoy what she's made. Soon, it's the big day. There's a slight hiccup when some chickens get into the barn just before the reception, but Blaire thinks quickly, grabbing Beckett's bowtie and a bit of tulle from her bouquet, and dresses to chickens as a bride and groom. The magazine reporter loves it--fantastic publicity. The wedding goes perfectly.


Misc

Dedicated to "Sadie and Clea, who make every day delicious."

I wish the book had started a month or so earlier, with Blaire discovering her lactose intolerance. Would have been interesting to see that in "real time" with the testing and diagnosis. Although that would probably work better with a dietary restriction that doesn't have so many gastrointestinal issues...hives or something would be more reader-friendly!

Before asking someone to marry you, you really should have discussed the idea together first. Marriage sort of requires cooperation from everyone who's going to be involved in it, after all. It's best if the question itself isn't a surprise, just details like the time and place.

It's brief, but there's a good bit about online safety and privacy issues. Good message for the intended age group for this book.

From the description, it sounds like Blaire and Gabe's mom use Pinterest to organize their wedding plans.

There are screenshot-type images of text chats with Blaire and her friends. It is so weird to see emojis in an American Girl book! Obviously it makes sense with this being set in present times, but since I more often read the books set decades or centuries ago...

Some people with lactose intolerance can safely consume goat's milk. Blaire might not be able to do so, and her goat is male, but I'm surprised the idea isn't mentioned.