A Donut in Time

In this third book in the "-Saralee Siegel" series, Saralee discovers a new facet to her superpowered nose. It is -Hanukkah at the Siegel House Restaurant, and -Saralee is stunned to learn that she is not the only one in her family with a super-nose. Her great-grandmother Gigi, the fierce and independent woman who started the family -restaurant, also had a -super-nose. When Saralee recreates Gigi's -donut recipe, the smells lead her through a portal and face-to-face with a young Gigi. To Saralee's surprise, Gigi is embarrassed by her super-nose and isn't the confident and strong woman Saralee was expecting. She tries to help Gigi become the successful restaurant owner she was meant to be -before Saralee's whole world is changed. The pacing and the text of the story are perfect for readers who are new to chapter books. Jewish culture and the celebration of -Hanukkah are woven seamlessly into the story. The black-and-white illustrations that are peppered throughout enhance the story. The text does not define many of the physical characteristics of the characters; within the illustrations all but one minor character are depicted as white. -VERDICT A sweet story celebrating Jewish culture and sprinkled with a little bit of magic. -V. Lynn Christiansen, School Library Journal

In the third book of this amus-ing series, pro-tag-o-nist Sar-alee Siegel uses the mag-i-cal pow-er of her super nose to trav-el back in time. There, she meets her great-grand-moth-er, Gigi, and encour-ages her to fol-low her dream of found-ing a restau-rant. Sar-alee uses the scent of Gigi's aro-mat-ic Hanukkah donuts as the por-tal for her trip to the past. When Gigi's courage begins to wane, and her resolve to start a restau-rant buck-les under a lack of sup-port, Sar-alee reminds her great-grand-moth-er that her choic-es will affect the future of her family. A fun, deli-cious romp through the past and the present, A Donut in Time is a charm-ing read, instill-ing in a sweet hol-i-day tale the mes-sage that some chal-lenges are worth pursuing. --Michal Malen, Jewish Book Council