Crumble (A Graphic Novel)
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Feb 25, 2025
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- $9.99
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- Pre-Order
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A heartfelt and magic-filled graphic novel for fans of Sheets and Real Friends about baking, friendship, and feeling every kind of emotion—no matter the flavor.
Emily, her mom, and her aunt Gina have a very special magical power: They can bake emotions into the desserts they sell at their family bakery. Need a dash of confidence? Try their millionaire shortbread! Want relief after a stressful day? The cheesecake will lighten your spirits! There is only one rule: Never bake a bad feeling.
Every day after school, Emily and her best friend, Dae, make tried-and-true recipes, while she and Aunt Gina brainstorm new ones. But when Aunt Gina dies in an accident, Emily’s life is turned upside down. Not knowing what to do, Emily breaks the rule and bakes her bad feelings into. . . a crumble. It looks gross. Dae says it tastes gross. But they can’t stop eating it. Neither can Emily’s classmates. And with her grief and pain baked into the crumble, Emily gets the comfort of being at least a little numb. So even though she’s not supposed to, she makes it again, and again, and again.
But baking (and eating) bad feelings doesn’t really make them go away . . .
Praise for Crumble
★ "Deliciously cute, funny, and touching." —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At Om Nom, a magical family-owned bakery, tween Emily and her aunt Gina, who read as white, bake emotions like confidence and relief into steamed cheesecakes and lightly sugared cookies. Emily's mother travels globally as a magic baking lecturer, leaving Aunt Gina to ensure that Emily—along with her Korean-cued best friend Dae—gets to school on time. When Aunt Gina suddenly dies, grief deflates everything. Bell (The Leak) mirrors the emptiness Emily and her mom experience following Aunt Gina's death by utilizing wordless panels and negative space to depict the void left behind in their once-affectionate home. If a baker is having "bad feelings," then baking is off-limits, squashing Emily's only outlet; nothing else she tries seems to help, even with Dae's steadfast efforts to cheer her up. After an argument with Dae, followed by a disastrous school bake sale, Emily must reckon with her coping mechanisms—with Mom's help. This thoughtful graphic novel by McClaren (the Hinges series) affirms that while life changes after loss, it can still be sweet. Recipes for the girls' bakes are included throughout, depicted as annotated pages of Emily's spiral-bound cookbook. Ages 8–12.
