Review by Booklist Review
Having never been far from the Brake Fast, a small-town truck stop run by her parents where only breakfast dishes are served, 12-year-old Tacoma has two dreams: to drive a food truck around the country and, more immediately, to make and eat, just once, a dinner. First, she has to shop for ingredients, a short expedition that extends into a tense and sometimes terrifying odyssey, due to complications ranging from a murderous rooster to a ride hidden in the cab of a trucker with a serious mean streak. Fortunately, Tacoma has allies in two boys--one lonely but game overnight visitor and one bully who turns out to be not so bad--who wind up firm friends and, come the exhilarating climax, able sous chefs. Readers may feel that Tacoma has a lot on her plate, as she has to cope with not only the task at hand but also the pain of living through good days and bad with her clinically depressed father, plus her own struggles with panic attacks. Still, the joy she takes in feeding people is just one expression here of a winningly huge heart. As she puts it, echoing her equally loving mother, everything may not be all right, but it's "all right enough." A sweet, far-from-bland tale rich in food, family, and freshly made friendships.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Tacoma Jones and her parents run the Brake Fast Truck Stop, a diner in Washington State that only serves breakfast. But the straitlaced 12-year-old yearns to eat something other than "eggs or oatmeal or pancakes," and has been collecting cookbooks from different states and dreaming of meatloaf. After her father's treasured photograph goes missing, Tacoma resolves to track it down, believing that its retrieval will help her dad navigate his latest depressive episode ("If I don't need to be sorry for having asthma, you don't need to be sorry for having depression," Tacoma tells him). Enlisting help from Denver Cass, a fellow loner with a sarcastic streak, Tacoma sets off on a spirited odyssey through Washington following the photograph and assembling ingredients for her long hoped-for dinner, along the way forging a friendship with Denver, as well as an unexpected alliance with her school tormentor. Rich characterizations, an electrifyingly original yet believable plot, and a perceptive voice distinguishes this captivating road trip tale by Lute (The Exceptional Maggie Chowder). With standout compassion and candor, Lute explores the sometimes heartbreaking reality of living with a depressed parent and the joy that friends and cooking can bring. Tacoma and Denver read as white. Ages 8--12. Agent: Samantha Wekstein, Thompson Literary. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Twelve-year-old Tacoma spends her evenings and weekends working at her parents' Washington state truck stop, the Brake Fast. Socially isolated due to her work schedule and some bullies at school, Tacoma becomes cautiously excited when a musician's tour bus breaks down at the truck stop, stranding the driver's 13-year-old son, Denver, along with the band. The two kids team up on a quest to retrieve a stolen Brake Fast memento from an adult bully named Crocodile Kyle and then buy groceries for Tacoma's first-ever dinner menu at the Brake Fast Truck Stop, which serves only breakfast foods all day long. What begins as hijinks turns to melodrama as the pair absorb a third member--Tacoma's mean classmate and Crocodile Kyle's nephew, Hudgie--and each begins to reveal their personal challenges and traumas over the course of the day. The author treats issues such as anxiety, parental depression, and verbal abuse with sensitivity, though the kids divulge their vulnerabilities with implausible speed, blunting the power of the emotional arc. The rural Washington setting provides a wealth of quirky characters and locales, and the one-day time frame lends a satisfying immediacy to the kids' adventures. It also requires a time warp, allowing three kids to cook a multicourse dinner for 18 people in just a couple of hours and leaving time for a public showdown with Crocodile Kyle. Physical descriptions are minimal; most characters are apparently white. An uplifting caper for readers who don't mind some emotional shortcuts. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
