Sage Cookson's Sweet Escape by Sally Murphy

Ill. by Celeste Hulme. New Frontier, 2016. ISBN 9781925059618
(Age: 6-10) Recommended. Cooking. TV shows. Sage Cookson is thrilled that she has finally been given her own phone. She will now be able to keep in touch with her friend Lucy when she travels with her parents on their trips away for their TV cooking show. This time she is off to the west where they meet up with a chocolatier and things go dangerously wrong.
Sage is an enterprising young girl who leads a very interesting life travelling with her parents even though she does have to keep up with her school work on the way. Readers will emphasise with her happiness about finally being given her own mobile phone and she certainly makes good use of it to help get her family out of the bush safely in time for their job.
It is obvious that Sally Murphy loves cooking shows and mysteries (see her article here) and many of her young readers are sure to enjoy both as well as they learn about what it takes to have a TV cooking show and thrill to the suspense of trying to find their way back when the chocolatier leaves them in the bush. And of course there are the descriptions of chocolate and a yummy Cheat's chocolate fondant recipe at the back of the book.
This is the first in a series, and with its short chapters, interesting characters and touch of suspense, will have its readers eagerly waiting for the next instalment.
Pat Pledger