title: The Stars of Summer
author: Tara Dairman

publication date: May 5, 2015
publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

I’m always a little wary about sequels, especially if I fell in love with the first book – sometimes the second time around just doesn’t live up to the first. So, after genuinely adoring All Four Stars, Tara’s debut book, I was nervous about what young foodie and restaurant-critic-in-secret Gladys Gatsby would get up to in the sequel, The Stars of Summer, and if I’d still be so charmed with her. (You can read my full review of All Four Stars here).

Within the first few chapters of the book, I knew I had nothing to worry about – Gladys was the same awesome kid that I had known from the first book.

After successfully submitting her second restaurant review assignment (by choosing to have her birthday party at the restaurant in question), Gladys receives a much unwelcomed birthday gift from one of her friends – a summer at Camp Bentley daycamp, complete with rowdy campers, swimming lessons, the great outdoors and hundreds of boring camp-lunches (which she, as a Counselor-in-Training must help prepare).

As she navigates the perils of summer camp, attempts to transform the camp lunch menu and deals with an obnoxious ‘celebrity’ camper (who just HAPPENS to be a writer and published novelist), Gladys must also find a way to make it back into the city to work on her next assignment – to find the best hot dog in New York City. Actually, that isn’t her real assignment – the other restaurant critic at the newspaper, unaware that “G. Gatsby” is an 11-year-old-girl, jealously sabotages Gladys by pretending to be Gladys’ editor and sending our little heroine on the hot dog tour.

Gladys tackles her assignment with as much energy as she can muster, gamely trying hot dog after hot dog before researching more ‘international’ versions in an attempt to discover something better than the menu options offered by the sidewalk street vendors. Her summer becomes something special when she starts spending time with her parents and friends in her quest for the perfect dog.

There were a few fleeting moments when I felt that the characters, who are all young children, were acting a little too much like adults, but then I realized how true that sometimes can be in real life – especially in kids with many responsibilities or those with a lot of talent. And there were lots of fun ‘kid moments’ that took me back to my childhood – summer camp, swimming tests (ugh) and the awkwardness of first crushes.

I also enjoyed the fact that The Stars of Summer builds upon and develops many of the other characters who we met in All Four Stars – Gladys’ parents (who are now allowing their daughter kitchen privileges and are eating more adventurously!) and her three friends, Sandy (the boy-next-door and Gladys’ strongest supporter), Parm (still only eating plain spaghetti) and Charissa (the spoiled, popular rich girl who loves to eat and whose parents just happen to own Camp Bentley).

After finishing The Stars of Summer, I was a little disappointed – I just wanted to keep reading about Gladys’ adventures! I do hope Tara is already hard at work on the next book and have my fingers crossed that this becomes a long-running series. I highly recommend this book (and the first book in the series, All Four Stars) to all young foodies and young-at-heart foodies alike.

Tara was gracious enough to spend a second time answering some questions for my Author Q&A series. You can read my interview with her about The Stars of Summer here.

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be taking part in The Stars of Summer book blog tour (my first time joining a book blog tour)! Come back here on May 11 and check out my interview with Tara on her new book!

Click here to purchase The Stars of Summer from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

Disclosure: I received a copy of The Stars of Summer from the publisher for review purposes. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing this post and the post was not reviewed by the publisher prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

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