Peanut Butter for Cupcakes: A True Story from the Great Depression by Donna Nordmark Aviles

• 01/15/2014
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Peanut Butter for Cupcakes: A True Story from the Great Depression
Donna Nordmark Aviles
Wasteland Press (2008)
ISBN 9781600472169
Reviewed by Avery Largent (age 9) for Reader Views (11/08)

“Peanut Butter for Cupcakes” by Donna Nordmark Aviles is a great true story about a family living in the Great Depression.  When something horribly tragic happens to this family, the six kids are suddenly forced into foster care.  This book is very sad, but has a very enjoyable and different style than most books, and the characters were really well developed.

The author’s storytelling style enabled me to really get to know the characters.  Instead of just staying in the point of view of one character for the whole story like most books do, this one uses several points of view.  First, it was from the children’s mother’s point of view, then their father’s, and then it switched through each child randomly.  I enjoyed this style very much because you got to know so much about all the characters.  Also, you got to know more about the characters from the way the book is arranged.  Each chapter tells a story, and by the end, I felt like I had seen pretty much every step of the character’s lives.  Then, even after learning all those things about the characters, there’s a small story about each of the children at the end of the book that explained what happened to the characters in adulthood.  I thought this was a great change from the usual style and arrangement in books, and wish they were like this more often.

Despite being a lovely read, this book was very sad.  In the second chapter there is an awful tragedy for the family that leaves them in a terrible crisis.  When I read that, I was not sure I would even finish the book because it was so sad.  It was worse because the tragedy wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for one simple request.  I was close to tears when I read that, and it took a very long time to get over.  Long after it happened, it was still hard to get over because it was so horrible and was mentioned a whole lot because the plot was based around it.

“Peanut Butter for Cupcakes” by Donna Nordmark Aviles is a great story.  Although it’s a sad book, it has a different, yet nice style, and a well-arranged plot that really lets you get to know the characters.  I would recommend this book to my friends, perhaps giving a warning about the sadness.  I hope Donna Nordmark Aviles writes more books, and can’t wait to read the rest of the ones that are already published.