SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

September 4, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Take 5: Mouth Watering Reads (Foodie Fiction for Teens)

September 4, 2013 by Karen Jensen, MLS   1 comments

Foodie Fiction are those yummy reads that somehow manage to incorporate food into the story.  Your main character can work at a restaurant.  They can bake.  They can participate in a cookie exchange.  (I did that once and I am really sorry to everyone that had to eat my cookies).  Or, as in the case of Taste Test by Kelly Fiore, they can be on a reality cooking show.  Sometimes, they even include recipes, like in Pie by Sarah Weeks (which is a really great foodie title for MG readers about, well, pie!).  Below are some mouth watering titles.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer 

“You don’t know which way a thing will come at you, but you need to welcome it with your whole heart which ever way it arrives.” 

I am a huge Joan Bauer fan and this is one of my favorite foodie titles.  Hope has bounced from town to town, and finds herself in a rural town in Wisconsin.  Like most small towns, this one is full of a charming cast of characters, corrupt politicians, and the boys that make you want to swoon. All the while Hope keeps serving up some great grub and challenging the status quo.

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

“It was funny, though, the things you didn’t learn about people until after they died.”

Quince works at a restaurant, though it is by no means your average restaurant.  It is, in fact, a vampire-themed restaurant. But what happens if some of the staff aren’t playing at being a vampire?  Written before vampires were cool and then overdone, this sexy paranormal is sure to tantalize.  Pun totally intended.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

“When you don’t talk, there’s a lot of stuff that ends up not getting said.”

But when D. J. does start finally talking, there’s a lot of stuff that gets said in this quirky, funny, touching novel.

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

“It takes forty muscles to frown, and only twelve to jam a cupcake in your mouth and get over it.” 

Dream shattered Hudson is working in the diner when a rare second chance at her dreams comes about.  But in order to follow your dreams, you have to be willing to take chances, something the previously burned Hudson isn’t very good at.

She’s So Money by Cherry Cheva

“I think he might’ve said “I love you” as I walked out of the classroom, but the hallway was noisy, so I couldn’t be sure.” 

Maya has got to find a way to save her family’s restaurant. Which puts the scheming Camden on the menu.  The two of them cook up a plan: they will do homework for a fee.  Will their plan sizzle or burn?

See my previous list of Foodie Fiction titles dealing specifically with desserts: Sweet Reads

Please share your favorite foodie titles with us in the comments.

More Foodie Fiction:
Teen Read Fun Foodie Fiction
Eat This! Foodie Fiction for Teens 
Read It and Eat!
Foodie Fiction

Foodie Fiction (has a couple of graphic novels on the list)

Filed under: Bittersweet, Collection Development, Dairy Queen, Foodie Fiction, Hope Was Here, Joan Bauer, Reader's Advisory, She's So Money, Tantalize

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

June 2013

Take 5: What's On the Menu Today? Dessert! Check out these sweet reads

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Five by Five: 5 Speculative Fiction and 5 Contemporary Fiction Books that Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fans Should Read

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Take 5: Karen's TBR Pile (I'll Show You Mine if You'll Show Me Yours)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Take 5: Hazing

by Karen Jensen, MLS

October 2014

Take 5: YA Horror 2014

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

BLUE FLOATS AWAY Turns Two!

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Faced with a Parenting Dilemma? Write a Book About It! Jacob Grant Comes By to Talk About NO FAIR

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Pardalita | Preview

by Brigid Alverson

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Post-It Note Reviews: Wish granters, brotherly mischief, a high-stakes scavenger hunt, and more!

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey Try Something New

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

The Human Rainbow | Dr. Ibram X. Kendi on Antiracism

Pronouncing Kids’ Names Correctly Matters. Here’s How to Get it Right.

21 Books About Children and their Names

Duke MDs’ Prescription for Schools? Masks, with Enforcement, and Psychological Support for Teachers, Students.

8 YA BookTubers To Watch Right Now

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bridget R. Wilson says

    September 5, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    I'd add The Cupcake Queen by Heather Hepler

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023