The Secret Recipe for Moving On

Gr 8 Up–High school senior Ellie has had to adjust to a new school and hasn’t made friends yet. She’s often bullied, and the school gossip pointedly enumerates her failings. When her boyfriend, Hunter, breaks up with her, it’s the worst thing that ever happened to her...until she ends up in the same home ec class as Hunter and his new girlfriend. Ellie and a group of misfits—AJ, Isaiah, and Luke—form an unlikely bond to get revenge. This is a story of how four kids who are not so likely to be friends pull together to support one another through their trials and circumstances. While Ellie’s senior year started in a train wreck, she takes the opportunity to remake herself and is proud of the outcome, and she and her new friends change in ways they never imagined. Bischer’s debut novel is filled with laugh-out-loud moments, which makes it worth reading even if the plot is predictable. Ellie, Hunter, and most of the characters are white, Isaiah’s family emigrated from Jamaica, and AJ’s family isn’t middle-class like the others.