Customer Reviews

Julia's Kitchen

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I received an advanced reader's copy of Julia's Kitchen and read it in one evening, unable to put it down. Julia's Kitchen is a touching portrayal of grief and mourning and rediscovering your personal strength. Given the other topics that young adults and adolescents are reading these days, I hardly think this will be too hard for them to handle. While the subject matter is incredibly painful, and I found myself often weeping, it's a beautiful, well-written story and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Just to let you know I am actually 14 I just don't want to put in my email address. I picked up this book at the library one day just looking at the cover thinking it would be a book about a girl that enjoys baking, but when I brougnt it home I couldn't put it down read it all in one night. It is a sad story and i was almost in tears at some parts, but I receieved a very strong theme from this story: Appreciate what you have and try to move on when you lose something important to you. I defnitely recommend that anyone who loves to read will love this book.

I have read JULIA'S KITCHEN a number of times, and each time I am moved, heartbroken and healed by this story. It is the carefully and beautifully written story of Cara, who
must rely to a great extent on her own internal resources when a sudden and unpredictable tragedy strikes her family. JULIA'S KITCHEN will take readers into the depths of Cara's feelings - sadness, anger, confusion, and hope - and offer a rich story of her confusion about her faith, her tenuous relationship with her grieving father, and her questions about how to hold
on to the memories of her mother and sister and still move forward in life.

It is a powerful reading experience for the child who wants to be touched and changed by a story, but it is also an opportunity for children, together, to discuss the multitude of issues dealt with in the course of the book - the unpredictability of the world, the unevenness of adults who do not always have children's best interests at heart, the importance of good friendship, the sometimes-confusing nature of faith, and the beauty and importance of inner resilience and hope. JULIA'S KITCHEN should not be mistaken for a book
"about grief". It is a story about the unfortunate, but real, ways children's lives can be shaken - and the exquisite resiliency of the human spirit.

It's true. You can't judge a book by its cover. The stylized artwork on Julia's Kitchen seems to promise a mildly humorous story, contemporary and quirky. Open the book, however, and you'll be pulled into a quiet, sensitive narrative of death, mourning, and ongoing life.
Eleven-year-old Cara is spending the night with her best friend when a house fire at her own home kills her mother and younger sister. Her father, who survived the fire, will not talk about it, and Cara struggles with questions no one can answer. What happened? How did her father escape? Why didn't he save her mother and sister? And the hardest question of all: "Where was God when my house was burning?"
Gently, gradually, Cara's first-person account leads the reader through her denial, anger, and mourning process, including time-honored Jewish traditions--shiva and mourner's kaddish (defined in the book)--for dealing with deep grief.
The book's title comes from Cara's mother, Julia: Before her death, she created gift baskets filled with cookies and brownies from "Julia's Kitchen." A metal box of recipes, salvaged from the burned house, provides a key that helps Cara eventually find answers to her questions.
Julia's Kitchen affirms the importance of friends and family in daily life, as the grieving Cara learns to reach past her emotional defenses and accept the support of people who care for her. More than this, Cara's story affirms that religious faith need not be blind, that questions are OK, and that spiritual struggle can lead to spiritual strength. Intense yet inspiring, Julia's Kitchen is told straight from the heart.

When Cara Segal looses her mother and younger sister in a house fire, she questions her belief in God, struggles with her relationship with her father, and tries to find ways to hold onto her memories of her family before the fire. With the support of her best friend, her grandparents, and the school social worker, Cara finds fulfillment in continuing her mother's baking business and donating the profits to the local firefighters. She also finds meaning in hanging mezuzot on the doors of her new apartment and realizes that "God works his magic by giving us the strength to handle just about anything that comes our way. And for what we can't handle alone, he gives us friends and family." (p. 148) Like Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman (2005), Birdland by Tracy Mack (2003), and Understanding Buddy by Marc Kornblatt (2001), Julia's Kitchen tackles the difficult issue of death of a loved one and explores how Jewish identity and spirituality helps the character to cope. First-time author Brenda Ferber, winner of the 2004 Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award, authentically captures the voice of a contemporary 11-year-old and despite the tragic premise manages to keep the book up-beat, refreshing, and inspiring.

Julia's Kitchen is an amazing book! It is written for middle grade readers but is just as appealing to adults. Don't let the heavy subject matter fool you. This book is beautifully written and full of hope (although I have to admit- I cried my eyes out!). I'm telling you- you won't be able to put it down! I can't recommend it more.

Cara is overwhelmed when her mother (a pastry cook) and her little sister Janie are killed in a house fire. Even though her family and friends try to be understanding Cara is angry that her father will not tell her what really happened the night of the fire. As time goes by, Cara becomes more isolated and unhappy until a phone call changes the way Cara deals with her grief. Ferber shows the grieving process in a realistic way and does not shy away from the unconsciously selfish behavior and anger Cara feels towards her father who survived the fire. The novel also shows how young people can reach acceptance of a tragic event by honoring the person who has passed away and creating something tangible that allows Cara's mother and sister to live on in memory. Julia's Kitchen also shows how different religions deal with death. Cara's Jewish family follows traditions that Ferber describes in detail and the unity of Jewish culture towards helping others in the community.

Julia's Kitchen is the name of Cara's mom's catering business. Cara who is 11 years-old, loves to bake and she especially likes to help her mom in the kitchen. But one day there is a terrible tragedy and Cara loses her mom and sister in a fire. Not knowing how to cope or how to move forward this is a story about loss, doubt as well as acceptance. Cara struggles to move on and questions God's role in her life along with her faith in religion. Her father has completely withdrawn and Cara wishes she had been in the fire too. But then Cara decides to continue her mom's business and realizes the best way to cope is to continue moving forward. A great story that might be too intense for young readers, but definitely a must read for anyone that has to deal with losing someone special.

Eleven-year-old Cara Segal has a vivid imagination and is always fearful the worst will happen to her family. Just to be safe, she has an ongoing relationship with G-d where she "regularly floats prayers up" to make sure her family is always protected. When she sleeps over her friend Marlee's house, an electrical short in the toaster starts a house fire, which takes the lives of her mom and younger sister Jane. Beside herself with grief, Cara sleepwalks through the week of shiva (Jewish mourning) and the comforting words of Rabbi Newlin as she feels she has been abandoned by G-d. Cara finds strength in her beloved Bubbe and Zayde, her mother's parents, who give her the emotional support that her father is unable to provide, and finds solace in continuing with her family scrapbook. However, the pivotal event is when Cara receives a phone order for her mother's catering business; her mom's cookie recipes are one of the items that escaped the fire and Cara decides, in secret, to revive "Julia's Kitchen". By carrying out the work of her mom, Cara feels a special connection to her and she begins to inwardly heal; she reaffirms her belief in G-d and her Jewish faith as she comes to understand things more clearly. When her father catches her baking, Cara's new self-assurance helps her to stand up to him and to finally discuss the details of the fire. This is a sensitive story and deals with a difficult subject matter in an honest and empathetic way. Winner of the 2004 Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award, this combines aspects of Jewish tradition and details of family life to poignantly address bereavement in a powerful and hopeful manner. A short glossary of the Hebrew terminology used and the cookie recipe that Cara adapts from her mom are included at the end of the book. Ages 9-13.