She reacts badly to finding out that DiDi is actually her mother and not her older sister, but she's also really, really mean to Mace. The book itself does have a decent Disney-esque happy ending. There are recipes included in the book for many of the foods that are mentioned in the story. I liked that GiGi became friends with Trip, that this caused a 'friendship jealousy' triangle between her, Trip, and Mace. What I liked: The Southern voice was very obvious in this book, and it gave the story a quirky sort of cuteness. The focus of the story is GiGi's school life and her attempt to reinvent herself and getting to know her friends and her frenemies. Interspersed between the chapters are recipes that DiDi's mother wrote, recipes she used to win a contest and one million dollars, which she is saving for GiGi's education. This is a contemporary story aimed at a middle grade audience that contains some rather mature themes. WARNING - SPOILERS ABOUND BEYOND THIS POINT But when GiGi uncovers clues about their mother's death years ago, she finds herself spiraling through secret after secret until nothing is what she thought it was. She changes her name to Leia and starts spending time with friends at school instead of studying through lunch. But GiGi wants to use this move as an opportunity to reinvent herself.

DiDi works as a hairdresser and never finished high school, so she insists that her sister work really hard at school.

GiGi and her older sister DiDi have just moved to upstate New York so that GiGi can attend an elite private school. That's the recipe for The Truth About Twinkie Pie, a voice-driven middle grade debut about the true meaning of family and friendship.Īvailable NOW from Hachette Audio as a digital download, and in hardcover and ebook from Little, Brown Young Readers.Yeh, Kat. Mix in a fancy new school, new friends and enemies, a first crush, and a generous sprinkling of family secrets. Add a million dollars in prize money from a national cooking contest and a move from the trailer parks of South Carolina to the Gold Coast of New York. Take two sisters making it on their own: brainy twelve-year-old GiGi (short for Galileo Galilei, a name she never says out loud) and junior-high-dropout-turned-hairstylist DiDi (short for Delta Dawn). A quirky, heartwarming coming-of-age debut novel about a girl who's out of her element but up for the challenge.

The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh