The Thing About Leftovers

April 15, 2016
Twelve-year-old Elizabeth "Fizzy" Russo feels like a leftover kid, and as a budding chef, she really dislikes leftovers.Fizzy is a skinny, strawberry-blonde, freckle-faced, white girl who has been taught to keep family business private and her emotions to herself. She has struggled to fit in or feel normal since her parents' divorce, and now that they are both seriously involved with other people, Fizzy is left feeling like an unwelcome guest in both their houses. To cope, she concentrates on her recipes for the Southern Living Cook-Off, hangs out with her aunt Liz, and spends time with her new friends, Japanese-American Miyoko and blond, white Zach. Payne provides plenty of realistic detail here about Fizzy's slowly evolving relationships with her parents, stepparents, and new friends. Nothing is easy, no one is perfect, and Fizzy learns that when it comes to people you love, sometimes it's best "to let the little things pass." Fizzy's inner monologue, steeped in self-doubt and self-pity, can seem a little heavy-handed, but her growth feels authentic and her progress well-earned.Readers experiencing family challenges of their own will laugh and cry with Fizzy, rejoicing as she cooks up quite the satisfying new life for herself. (Fiction. 10-14)

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May 1, 2016

Gr 5-8-Twelve-year-old Fizzy has endured a fair amount of change in her life since her parents' divorce. After moving to a new town, she realizes that she has no friends, does not wear the right clothes, doesn't bring the right type of lunch, and doesn't live in the right type of house. Fizzy's chronically late to school, thanks mostly to her mother's tendency to "run late." She hates math and gym, and the teachers of both those classes seem to hate her. Fizzy feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere-not at school, not at home with her mom, not with her mom's new boyfriend, and not at her father's home, where her new stepmother makes everything seem perfect. She feels like a leftover and wonders if winning the Southern Living cook-off might make her parents appreciate her. Though her parents try hard to remain civil with each other and involved in her life, they are each caught up in starting anew, leaving Fizzy feeling adrift. Luckily, she has her cooking, her Aunt Liz to keep her spirits up, and two new friends, Miyoko and Zach, who seem to understand her and appreciate her humor. Fizzy's first-person narration is by turns hilarious and poignant as she struggles to find her voice.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
Grades 5-8 Just the word families made me sick with longing. This hauntingly accurate portrayal of a young girl's turmoil after her parents' divorce introduces Fizzy Russo, an excellent cook who knows all about leftovers. Fizzy, you see, believes she's the leftovers from her parents' marriage, and as they begin new families and new relationships, Fizzy feels frazzled, alone, and aching for the past. As she also tackles a new school and new friends, Fizzy's feelings heat up and begin to boil over, and she latches onto the one thing she feels she's good at and that makes people happy, cooking. Winning the Southern Living Cook-off, she believes, is the answer to solving all the loneliness brought on by her mother's fiance and her father's new baby. Payne's characters give such interesting perspectives from leftover kids that it may inspire some readers to reinspect their own relationships. The plot and characters are bluntly realistic, and Fizzy's story should resonate with those looking for their place in a newly blended family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)