{ "item_title" : "One Hundred Spaghetti Strings", "item_author" : [" Jen Nails "], "item_description" : "One Hundred Spaghetti Strings is one hundred percent satisfying. A perfectly blended concoction. --Julie Sternberg, acclaimed author of Like Pickle Juice on a CookieThis brave and heartwarming middle grade novel will leave your belly rumbling and your heart full. Because when life hands you lemons, it's time to get cookingPerfect for fans of Sarah Weeks, Leslie Connor, and Lynda Mullaly Hunt.Since Steffy was little, she and her older sister, Nina, have lived with their beloved Auntie Gina. But when the girls' dad comes home to live with them, everything changes. So Steffy does what she does best: She cooks her way through the hardest year of her life.Sometimes it feels like everything but the kitchen sink is being thrown at her--too many ingredients that don't quite work. And all Steffy wants is for her family to be whole again. Can her recipes help bring them back together?One Hundred Spaghetti Strings also includes over twenty recipes--which Steffy cooks throughout the book--so aspiring young chefs can try them out when they're done reading ", "item_img_path" : "https://covers2.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/0/06/242/760/0062427601_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "16.99", "online_price" : "16.99", "our_price" : "16.99", "club_price" : "16.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

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Building bridges through cooking

Since Steffy was 3, she and her sister, Nina, have lived with Auntie Gina. All that changes when their aunt decides to move in with her boyfriend, and Steffy’s dad, a musician she scarcely knows, comes for dinner. Steffy makes homemade pasta and draws a name tag for the stranger who’s about to take Auntie Gina’s place in the bedroom down the hall.

Steffy is a budding chef, and cooking is how she frames her life and makes sense of things. Through cooking, she tries to reconnect with her mother, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident and has to be re-introduced to her daughters each Sunday when they visit. Steffy’s only connection to her mom is the old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook filled with handwritten notes. She carries homemade favorites to her mother’s long-term care facility, fixes the family meals and even enters a cooking contest.

Steffy and Nina want to get close to their dad, but he’s unapproachable. When Steffy does some sleuthing in the church basement where he attends meetings, she hears his secret. Her dad’s an alcoholic, and he’s struggling to get better for his wife and his girls.

Jen Nails draws in readers with a disarmingly simple style. As the story builds, the characters take on more depth. One Hundred Spaghetti Strings shines with nuance and simplicity.

This article was originally published in the April 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.