Review: No Room for Dessert by Hallie Durand

Title:		No Room for Dessert
Author:		Hallie Durand
Publisher:		Simon & Schuster
Imprint:		Atheneum Books
Pub. Date:		06/07/2011
ISBN:		1442403608 (ISBN13: 9781442403604)
Pages:		192

All of a sudden it seems like Dessert’s life story is being written in invisible ink! It’s getting harder and harder believe that anyone in the Schneider house even remembers that she lives there. Her school picture hanging on the fridge? Covered! The promise of burritos? Forgotten! Her baby brother doesn’t even know her name! (He calls her “dirt.”) Dessert decides that she needs a plan to get back on her family’s radar—and hopefully make them all feel like “dirt” for a change.


Let there be lightbulbs! Dessert has an idea. All she has to do is win her classroom’s invention contest, which should be a piece o’ cake. But, things get worse before they get better...so bad, Dessert would need all the double fudge sundaes in the world to make her feel like herself again—or maybe just a surprising new friend.

(Summary and cover via Goodreads)

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No Room for Dessert is about Donahue Penelope Schneider, a girl so sweet they nicknamed her Dessert. Dessert has been feeling left out lately though because as the oldest of 4, she feels like she's being forgotten because her parents are so involved with her siblings. However, when Dessert's teacher proposes an invention contest, Dessert sees her chance to get everyone's attention with her brilliant ideas. Of course, nothing goes as planned. Will Dessert ever get the attention of her parents?

This book was so charming. Dessert is a fun character, and she manages to explain her problems without ever feeling too sorry for herself. All of the characters were a bit quirky but fun. Who wouldn't want a teacher who acted out things and proposed inventing contests? Dessert's parents own a fondue restaurant, which was a fun  backdrop for some of the plot. I thought the invention contest was particularly entertaining. The inventions are the exact types of things I would have found entertaining at that age. The illustrations were also very well done.

I think this is a great book for kids. It's a super quick read with fun characters. It could even get then thinking about their own creative inventions. No Room for Dessert is a very entertaining book.

Galley provided by publisher for review.