Anyway, the list begins.
TITLE: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares
AUTHORS: Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
SYNOPSIS: “I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story that will have readers perusing bookstore shelves, looking and longing for a love (and a red notebook) of their own.
FOOD RELATED: This one is easy. Cookies. Cookies and hot chocolate. (FYI, Holiday Lebkuchen cookies are mentioned quite a few times so, it might be a good idea to make some and eat them while you enjoy the book.)
TITLE: Bittersweet
AUTHOR: Sarah Ockler
SYNOPSIS: Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances… a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been.
So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life… and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done.
It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last…
FOOD RELATED: Cupcakes. Hudson can totally be considered the queen of cupcakes.
ACTIVITY RELATED: Ice skating. I won’t say too much because it might ruin some of the book for those who haven’t read it, but definitely go ice skating at least once to get into the mood.
TITLE: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
AUTHOR: C.W. Lewis
SYNOPSIS: They open a door and enter a world.
NARNIA…the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy…the place where the adventure begins.
Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever.
TITLE: Love on the Lifts
AUTHOR: Rachel Hawthorne
SYNOPSIS: Winter Break super-secret perfect cocoa recipe:
8 oz steamed whole milk
(no skim! doesn’t work!)2 tbsp. dark cocoa powder (big scoops)
1 tbsp. sugar (can’t be too sweet)
4 dried, crushed mint leaves
(or 1 tbsp. mint syrup)Stir thoroughly. Add mint swizzle stick. Combine with cute ski instructor, or brother’s cute best friend, or cute guy you never noticed was so cute…Enjoy.
FOOD RELATED: Hot chocolate duh! A recipe is even included in the synopsis.
ACTIVITY RELATED: This is another no brainer – skiing!
TITLE: Breadcrumbs
AUTHOR: Anne Ursu
SYNOPSIS: Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn’t help it – Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn’t fit anywhere else.
And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it’s never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack’s heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it’s up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she’s read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn’t the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.
Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen,” Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.
ACTIVITY RELATED: Go watch Disney’s Frozen, which is based of the same fairy tale Breadcrumbs is based off – “The Snow Queen”.
I hope you guys enjoyed this list, but don’t forget your clue…
Clue #7: Red is said to be a ________ color in Chinese culture.
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Emz! YOU HAVE MADE ME HUNGRY AND READY TO READ! Soooo EVIL!
I love how you kept relating food back to the books! Now I know the perfect thing to eat/drink when I read each of them! (But wait… when I read Love on the Lifts… I DRANK HOT CHOCOLATE! Success!!!)
Fantastic post! Thanks so much for working with us on it! (And sorry for the incredibly late comment!)