Everything on a Waffle

 Horvath, P. (2008). Everything on a waffle. Square Fish. 176 pages. ISBN 9780312380045

Primary genre: realistic fiction

Other elements: family, loss, friendship, humor

Intended reader age: 10 and up

Synopsis:

Despite evidence to the contrary, Primrose Squarp is absolutely certain that her parents did not perish in the typhoon that swept through her small costal village, Coal Harbour. When funds begin to run low to keep her temporary babysitter employed, the town begins the search to find a relative that would be willing to take Primrose in. Uncle Jack is the only relative that they can locate and he, somewhat, reluctantly takes on the task of caring for his orphaned niece. An adjustment period is expected, but Primrose is not prepared to be on constant guard against Miss Honeycut, the school counselor, who has determined that this is not an acceptable arrangement and wants to separate Primrose and Uncle Jack. Luckily for Primrose the local restaurant owner, Miss Bowzer, offers a safe haven at her establishment The Girl on the Red Swing where everything is served on a waffle.

Review:

I really enjoyed Primrose’s personality through the story; she had a  positive way of viewing the changes and challenges she was faced with. Even though everyone was certain that her parents had perished in the storm, she stuck with her conviction that they were still alive and stranded on an island somewhere. She wasn’t ever childish or petulant about this conviction either. She let other people speak their thoughts about the situation but always brought the idea of “just knowing something in your heart for no reason” into the conversation. Many of the adults always ended the conversation with telling her how ridiculous she was being, but she never swayed.

I think I enjoyed her interactions with Miss Perfidy the most. Every time Primrose would begin talking Miss Perfidy would just walk out of the room. Right in the middle of Primrose’s sentences. Primrose never took this to heart, she always accepted this as how Miss Perfidy interacted with people.

I appreciated the added recipes at the end of the chapters. These were not traditional recipes with just the listing of ingredients and steps to follow; they still retained Primrose’s voice in them. There were even some I was thinking of trying. I have always wanted to try making Chow Mein noodle cookies and the cinnamon roll recipe interested me was because I am always looking for a good recipe for that.

Polly Horvath has written a number of books. One I have always been interested in reading (outside of this one) is My One Hundred Adventures. The cover has always caught my eye because the style reminds me of Nicoletta Ceccoli, an illustrator I absolutely adore.