Amanda Commander: The great orange bake-off by Coral Vass. Illus. by Heidi Cooper Smith

Amanda, Lucia (Lu) and Mai have been anticipating the Year Three Class Bake-off as a team. After all they are best friends and co-founders of the Dolphin Club. But Ms Tran has stipulated teams of cooking duos and three is a crowd. Amanda is paired with Eve and urgent club meetings are convened after school to try to persuade Ms Tran to approve a trio.

Using an array of texts and mediums such as math paper, notes, recipes, drawings and signs; our expansive young narrator explores her problem, her conflicting motivations and loyalties, so openly - thanks to her creators, author Carol Vass and illustrator Heidi Cooper Smith.  

Will a potentially winning recipe and a seriously competitive partner tempt Amanda to risk friendships or will her decision help the classmates appreciate that new creative teams will never endanger true friendship?

“…As I read the recipe, my heart skipped with excitement. It sounded delicious. And before I knew it, I realised I really wanted to make Orange Dream Bars with Eve.”

Ten chapters punctuate only 62 pages to conform to Vass and Wombat Books’ winning algorithm for the Amanda Commander series. Other titles in the series are: The Purple Initiation,  The Pinky Promise, The Yellow Dress, The Blues Day Tuesday and The Green-Eyed Monster.  

Lower primary students will keep returning to these easy to read ‘scrapbooks’ by a heroine whose nickname is neurologically satisfying.

Themes: School, Fiendship, Teamwork, Cooking, Clubs.

Deborah Robins