Synopses & Reviews
A girl's struggle amid the African AIDS pandemic. The definitive book on baking for home cooks.
As soon as I get back from the shabeen, I go next door to see Mrs. Tafa. I have to ask to use her phone to let our relatives know about Sara. I'm nervous. Mrs. Tafa would like to run the world. Since she can't run the world she's decided to run our neighborhood. Nothing says comfort food like freshly baked cookies, a cake, muffins or homemade bread cooling in the kitchen. Creating those mouthwatering baked treats to share with family and friends is one of life's great pleasures.
So speaks sixteen-year-old Chanda, an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. The Complete Baking Cookbook provides the inspiration to explore the wonderful world of baking. And of course it includes the tested recipes to make it easy and tasty. Written by baker and pastry chef extraordinare George Geary, this collection of 350 easy-to-follow recipes offers a tantalizing variety of goodies from pies, tarts, cobblers and crisps, to cookies, cheesecakes and holiday pastries.
While Mrs. Tafa's hijinks are often amusing, the fact is that Chanda's world is profoundly difficult. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges. Here's just a small sampling:
Blue ribbon double chocolate cookies; gingersnaps; maple sugar cookies In this sensitive, swiftly-paced story readers will find echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird as Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship andfamily ties. Above all, it is a story about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth. Honey apple spice muffins; orange macadamia rolls; jumbo cinnamon rolls
Sweet potato pie; apple cherry cobbler; Passover honey cheesecake Through the artful style of acclaimed author Stratton, the determination and resilience Chanda embodies will live on in readers' minds. Holiday English trifle; Christmas cherry cake; spring Easter Lemon torte.
Synopsis
An unforgettable novel about family, loyalty and survival in sub-Saharan Africa -- now a major motion picture.
As soon as I get back from the shabeen, I go next door to see Mrs. Tafa. I have to ask to use her phone to let our relatives know about Sara. I'm nervous. Mrs. Tafa would like to run the world. Since she can't run the world she's decided to run our neighborhood.
So speaks sixteen-year-old Chanda, an astonishingly perceptive girl living in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa.
While Mrs. Tafa's hijinks are often amusing, the fact is that Chanda's world is profoundly difficult. When her youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges.
In this sensitive, swiftly-paced story readers will find echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird as Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a story about the corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth.
Through the artful style of acclaimed author Stratton, the determination and resilience Chanda embodies will live on in readers' minds.
Synopsis
An unforgettable novel about family, loyalty and survival in sub-Saharan Africa -- now a major motion picture.
Chanda's Secrets was first published in 2004 to extraordinary international acclaim. It won the Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in YA Literature, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults selection and, in France, was a finalist for the Prix Sorcieres. It has now been made into a major motion picture, under the name Life, Above All. The film received a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and was honored with the prestigious Prix Francois Chalais. To coincide with the film's North American release by Sony Classics, the cover of this new reprint features a poignant still from the movie.
No-one can read Chanda's Secrets and remain untouched.
-- Stephen Lewis, former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and current chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation and co-director of AIDS-Free World
The message about overcoming ignorance and shame and confronting the facts is ever-present, but the tense story and the realistic characters . . . will keep kids reading and break the silence about the tragedy.
-- Booklist (starred review)
Smart and determined, Chanda is a character whom readers come to care for and believe in, in spite of her almost impossible situation. The details of sub-Saharan African life are convincing and smoothly woven into this moving story of poverty and courage, but the real insight for readers will be the appalling treatment of the AIDS victims.
-- School library Journal (starred review)