The Stars of Summer by: Tara Dairman

While walking through a bookstore one day, I came across this book.  Since I loved Tara Dairman's first book in this series All Four Stars I was excited to read this sequel.

In The Stars of Summer we meet Gladys Gatsby.  Gladys Gatsby is not your average 12 year old.  She recently earned the job of food critic for the New York Standard newspaper and no one at the newspaper knows she is only 12 years old.  Thus far, her first  two restaurant reviews have been very well received by her editor and readers, which makes her excited to continue writing her reviews.  As you can imagine, keeping her identity a secret from her parents, the newspaper editor, and her friends is becoming harder and harder as she finds herself working to find the best hot dog in New York City.  The current food critic isn't happy about having someone who is writing better reviews that he is and he plots to ruin her by giving her this seemingly impossible task.  Can she really find the best hot dog in one of the largest cities in the world?

Gladys is given a chance to attend a summer day camp and she thinks this will be the perfect cover for her to sneak off to New York City.  Sneaking off soon becomes more difficult, as Gladys is put in charge of all the adult and camp counselor meals at the summer camp.  Since she didn't pass her swimming test, she now has to spend her mornings in swim lessons with all the small children and the annoying "celebrity" camper.  She must get creative in order to fulfill this assignment.  Undeterred, she is soon finding ways to spend time with her parents in the city and getting them to take her to as many hot dog places as possible.  Will she finally find the best one in all the city?

Not only does the reader learn about many different styles of hot dogs in this story.  We also get to  see how Gladys begins to grow as she tries new things and meets new people.  She is learning that communication is key to all kinds of relationships.  Gladys is one of my new friends.

I really loved this story.  My interest was peaked from page one and I could hardly put the book down.  I look forward to the third book of the series coming in 2016.

After reading this book, go and enjoy a hot dog!

Happy Daily Reading
Deanna