Blaire Cooks Up a Plan by Jennifer Castle

Blaire Cooks Up a Plan Reviews

• 
  Anna

  Readers who don't mind somewhat spoiled main characters and who can employ some hearty suspension of disbelief should be satisfied with Blaire Cooks Up a Plan. Alas, I did not find it great. AG needs better titles for their books.
• 
  Meghan

  Personally, Blaire’s plan doesn’t seem to me to be the best community service project, even if it did lead to greater things. The sub-plot about home renovations was a bit odd as well.
• 
  Ellen Sun

  I like this book because Blaire never gives up. I learned a lot from Blaire about cooking.
• 
  Mya Doberstein

  I really liked this book. It talks about helping people in need. I really recommend this book to other girls my age.
• 
  Shani

  I was really hoping I'd like this more. I'd heard good things, and it looked like it would be better. I'm happy to say I was right.
  
  It seemed to take me a little to get into it, but once I did, I liked it. This story was not as busy as the first, and I really liked that. It had more than one plotline, some subplots, but nothing that was too much. I'll admit that I wasn't crazy about the part with the renovation show, but for me it wasn't too in-my-face, unlike the wedding plot of the last book. I still don't think it was necessary to include such a thing (and I don't find it completely realistic), but I can see where it was used well. I really appreciate the scene where she turns down going with Marco. SO much. It showed how she was learning, and it was like it was a turning point in how I viewed the story. I also liked Marco's story of his dad's business.)
  
  I also really liked the food insecurity theme, and how it handled her trying to get to know Eli. Over all, I really liked it. Again, sure it had flaws, but it was enjoyable in it's entirety.
• 
  Sydney

  A much better sequel after a flat, uninspired first book.
• 
  Elizabeth

  And it had recipies!
• 
  Joey

  Blaire’s class at school is having a big community celebration event, encouraging the children to give back to their community. Blaire helps by donating clothes to the helping hand centre but soon finds there so much more she can do to help the people that go there and her project becomes very big.
  
  This was wonderful it was all about helping, caring and giving back. Blaire has such an adventurous spirit, always something cooking in her mind and I love how she used it to her advantage to ensure she helped others. She creates so many different ways to provide help, to give back to the people in her community that needed food, that needed to know how to cook enjoyable recipes.
  
  I love Blaire so much she’s honestly such an incredible character, I enjoyed learning about Eli, though his story wasn’t actually what I was expecting it would be, I did enjoy how he opened up to Blaire, how he helped her and the community too. Thea was so so funny in this one and I was happy that she and Blaire were friends the whole time in this one. I also loved little Abby she was so precious, Blaire became a big sister to her.
  
  I honestly could read so many more books on Blaire, on the farm, on her community and it’s sad she only got two books. I love reading about what’s she’s up too, what’s going on at the farm, the story was open to so many additional books it’s really sad we didn’t get them.
• 
  Eva

  Blaire is a 10 year old in 2019. She is a fearless people person and leader. She is dairy free and is learning to cope with the situation while still cooking for others at her family’s bed and breakfast just outside of the city of Bluefield. Blaire faces many challenges like meeting new kids from other states and helping celebrities on interior design missions! There are so many mystery’s, will Blare succeed with Operation Awesome Sauce? What will happen to Abby and her money suffering father? I was inspired by every word in this book and will definitely be finding a number 3 of Blaire’s story! I loved that the book was about a doll that any young girl can have and/or aspire to be! This is a fictional book that I would recommend for any girl or boy from the ages 8-14.
• 
  Eva B.

  Full series review for Blaire:
  I'm not gonna lie, Blaire is one of those GOTYs who I didn't even know existed--I think the last one I remember going "oh wow, that's the GOTY!" was Lea, and I think most of why I remember her is bc she was the GOTY the first (and so far only, though hopefully that'll change) time I went to the American Girl store in Chicago. That being said, I really enjoyed Blaire's story and I think that if I was around her age when it was released/I read it I would have felt very seen. I don't have the dietary restrictions she has outside of mild lactose intolerance that I pretty much just ignore, but there was a year or so where I was on a "lectin-free" diet (which did nothing to help me at all) and her feelings of being embarrassed about having to have special food or meals at big events and not being able to eat her favorites (as well as the classic lactose intolerant moment of "I will eat this grilled cheese anyways [instantly gets sick]") hit home for me. The second book also delves into the issue of food insecurity and how poverty makes eating--let alone healthy eating--difficult as Blaire pitches in to help her community.
• 
  Erin

  There's a lot going on, but I would have loved this as a kid. Blaire meets a new kid at school and tries to make friends, she encounters her design idol and work with him on a project, she has a community service project for school that takes her to a food pantry and has her planning to make special veggie pasta sauce to distribute. There's goats in pajamas, dandelion chickens, overcommitting, and food allergies.
  
  A solid realistic fiction episode.
• 
  Emily

  I thought this was a really great book. I loved how Blaire brought her class together to help out the community. I liked watching her befriend Abby and the new kid too, and learn that even small actions can help in a huge way. Even if they don’t necessarily lead way to higher ways to help. But that you need to keep showing up if you’re going to get the results you want.
• 
  Janelle Hackbarth

  After reading "Blaire", I knew I had to read the sequel.
  
  I really enjoyed this sequel, seeing Blaire's class decide what Community Service project to do. The new characters, Eli and Abby, was really interesting to learn about.
  
  This story was a great sequel to "Blaire" and I hope this is followed up by a 3rd "Blaire" book.
• 
  William Jeanes Memorial Library

  Blaire Cooks Up a Plan was an easy read based on the American Girl Doll series. Although this book was not challenging, it was made up in the story line. Blaire had to learn to balance the fun in life with everything she had to do. Blaire also had to learn how to make the world a better place.
  -Patron E.H.
• 
  Melissa

  I thought this was a nice book. It has a theme of helping others, from friends to community. The book reminds us that no amount of helping is too small, even when we think it is. It teaches about kindness and awareness for what others might be going through.
• 
  irene del mar

  Not compelling, either. Blaire’s not any better. I really don’t like her personality. She doesn’t seem to face consequences for any of her actions and is often inconsiderate. No characters have real depth except for Eli. At least they address the very real problem of food insecurity.
• 
  Lexi

  This was a really cute book that teaches empathy to grade schoolers in an accessible way. Blaire has her own problems (such as her lactose intolerance), but she learns that others have issues, too, and that by helping them out, she can feel good about herself and not so alone.
• 
  Sherri Savasta

  Loved it, really hoping they put out more Blaire stories!
• 
  Lucy Costello

  I really liked this book
  
• 
  Amelia

  A super fun quick book about an American girl and her fun life. She took so much for her community project and it worked!
• 
  Faith Marshall

  Although charming, sweet, and even inspirational in some areas, the book was ridiculously, annoyingly unreal in others.