Thank you NetGalley for the review copy of A Spoonful of TIme by Flora Ahn. This book was intriguing because of the time traveling aspect. When it was compared to When You Reach Me, I was sold. It is so true that taste can take us back figuratively, but what if taste could literally transport you back in time?

I found this book to be delightful. Maya, her Grandmother, Jada, and Jeff make this story shine. There are twists and turns throughout. I absolutely adored it. I will definitely recommend it to my students.

I loved this!!! It has all the elements I look for in a book. I was obsessed with the cover and that's what drew me to request it.

Love the Korean culture and the food so this was mixed together in the plot with time travel!!! Loved this concept, was quite unique but also made so much sense?

Really good read, didn't feel like a middle grade book so I feel anyone could read it

If there is one thing I love, it's middle grade with a dash of cooking. Loved this book! Can't wait to read more books by Flora Ahn.

A heartwarming and reflective story exploring the importance of family, memories and cultural tradition. This magical middle grade novel follows Maya as she attempts to uncover her family's secrets through the power of her grandmother's recipes.

Maya is a relatable character who carries the preteen angst you would expect, with the added frustrations and grief of losing her father and finding a widening distance between herself and her mother. There's some interesting exploration of Maya's Korean heritage that will help to broaden young readers horizons.

The logic behind Maya's time traveling could be confusing to some as it isn't always clear who is who and when is when, but confident readers will understand and appreciate the nuance and get the full effect of the plot twist.

This lovely food connected time travel made my mouth water! Maya's grandmother has been staying with her and she always wants to show Maya how to make traditional Korean foods and Maya resists. Until one day the two make patbingsu together and are whisked back into a time Maya can only imagine is her grandmother's past. This leads to further adventures and an enormous unexpected surprise.

A middle grade time travel novel with an intriguing premise. However, I felt like there was a bit too much world-building, which will lose some readers. I found myself somewhat confused, but readers intrigued by the conundrums presented with time travel will probably enjoy Mya's story. I did like the glimpses into South Korean culture when Mya traveled back in time.

This book pulled me into my memories of cooking with grandma and enveloped me in that warmth until the very last page. There is so much love put into this book, it practically leaps off the pages. And yes, you get recipes for some of the dishes featured!

You follow Maya as she adjusts to family life with a newcomer—the grandma she'd never met until now. Her mother doesn't seem all too pleased about it, but Maya is excited to learn more about her Korean heritage—especially about the cooking. Maya's Halmunee works pure magic when it comes to food, despite her memory having seen better days. But as Maya fills up her recipe book and searches for answers, new questions and secrets keep popping up, and nobody's answering her questions.

There is something so incredibly special about learning how to cook from a loved one and sharing food as an act of love. I found myself constantly thinking about all the shenanigans we got up to in grandma's kitchen. There are flavours and tastes that immediately transport me to specific points in time, and this book is the embodiment of that feeling.

Home, family, heritage, identity, inyeon—these are the themes explored here. They were mostly handled well. I would've liked to see more emphasis on the struggle between Family Maya and Friend Maya to further expand on the identity theme. At first, it seemed like it would've or should've affected the plot more, but ended up not having that much weight in the end. Another small issue I had was the amount of explaining. Granted that the reveal warranted some clarification (I had a different theory going in, so I'm mostly glad I didn't see it coming), but we were told a lot of things about how the magic worked, especially from Halmunee.

Still, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a cosy, sweet read. But be warned: reading this book on an empty stomach is dangerous and might result in a symphony of stomach growls.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

At Tome Student Literacy Society, we have a list of language and content criteria for the books we select for our annual book award list, the It List. During our reading of this book, we discovered that it did not meet our specific criteria for content for the ages it is marketed towards. Due to this, we elected not to finish this book for review purposes for our organization. We would like to thank the publisher for the opportunity to review an e-book of this title.

The first word that comes to mind to describe this book is: cute. This is such a cute story where a young girl discovers her grandmother can revisit her memories thanks to a variety of food. This book is perfect for young readers interested in sci-fi and time traveling, it also allows readers to learn about Korean culture and its food.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

This book is sweet and full of heart. I love the culture the author brings into her work. The main character is real and feels like someone you want to be friends with. Plus, any addition of food into the storyline as a key element piques my interest right away! My students are going to love it!

This was a fantastic middle grade novel.

The time travel approach was very cute, and age appropriate (in its complexity). The grandmother's dementia was also approached in a very delicate way.

This will be great for the intended audience.

Maya's Halmunee is able to travel through time and visit past memories by making food from that memory. Even better - Maya has the power, too! As Maya experiences more of her Halmunee's memories and learns to use her power, she learns about her culture and more importantly, her family. Maya doesn't have many memories of her father, and her mom doesn't want to talk about him, but Maya is determined to find out what happened.

This story tackles a lot - family issues, feeling disconnected from your culture, how to be a friend (especially when your friend group is changing), and more. These topics are weaved in to an interesting time travel narrative with a mystery or two baked in as well. The food descriptions are rich and abundant - you'll definitely leave this book hungry! Overall, I think there's tons to be enjoyed here. My only complaint is that I wish this book had about 100 more pages. There was so much ground to cover given all that Ahn had to discuss, and at points it felt rushed and a little confusing. Had there been more page space, I think the story could have breathed a little more and really given readers time to sit with what was being said.

I would definitely recommend this book to others!

This super sweet story was a wonderful mix of things I love-stories about relationships with grandparents, food, history, and storytelling. I enjoyed the description of foods and learning about Korean culture. Some of my readers might struggle a bit keeping the time travel straight in their heads, but it was a good way to weave the past and the present together and preserve her grandmother’s memories.

This book sucked me in. It took a little bit to get going, but once I was in, I was hooked. There are a lot of food and scenery descriptions. I thought they were great descriptions, but it did bog down the story slightly. I loved the grandma's character, the Korean culture, and of course the recipes. I definitely want to try cooking some of those myself! The ending came abruptly for me. Lots of stuff happens all of a sudden. I sure hope there will be a second book to wrap up all the unanswered questions!

All that being said, I enjoyed the read and will read the next in the series (if there is one).

Notes- a homosexual side character/middle school romance, some traumatic events, a character with dementia

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC! My opinions are my own and unbiased by the free read. :)

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

SEMI SPOILER WARNING: A middle grade novel that starts out with fantasy elements before twisting towards more of a sci-fi vibe. The pacing was too fast for me, with Maya mostly accepting her newfound abilities and magical heritage without reflection, questioning, or doubt. I did like the magic world building, particularly in the gardens of time, and would have liked to see more of this (particularly before it primarily became about saving a boy Maya was crushing on. I also liked the content around inter generational conflict...but all this was wiped away when the truth of Maya's history and time traveling was revealed. This last twist was absolutely unexpected, so well done there, but it also made it feel like a lot of the book so far was pointless and a bit of a time waste.

A Spoonful of Time is a heartfelt mg book that I’d recommend for any teacher to keep in their classroom library. This short book is beautifully written and is appropriate for young readers.

This novel combines Korean culture with fantasy. The main character, Maya, lives with her mother and grandmother; her mother is very busy with her career, and her grandmother has come to live with them because she is suffering from some form of dementia. As with many people with some form of memory loss, her grandmother, Halmunee (the Korean word for grandmother) has less difficulty when engaged in a familiar task; in this case, the task is cooking. One day, Halmunee cooks a familiar dish, grabs Maya's hand - and suddenly, they are in the past, observing a memory triggered by the dish, a memory in which Halmunee, much younger, is eating the same item. Time travel, it appears, is a family talent, triggered by food - but only travel to the past.

This is is a fascinating book that covers multiple themes - family, friendship, culture, food, and more. It also includes recipes for the foods that trigger various trips for Halmunee and Maya, which is a nice touch. The intricacies of time travel are touched upon in a way that makes it both mysterious and comprehensible. There are other pieces as well; Maya's relationship with her best friend, Jada, her new friend Jeff, and her mother and grandmother all add to the depth of her character and enhance the story. Recommended for upper elementary to adult. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Honestly, this book is wild. The plot has been done before in movies, but never this well-written, in my opinion. I love this book, I'm still surprised by the ending, and I will definitely be reading whatever author Flora Ahn writes.

I recommend this book for ages 10+ as there is a lot of time travel, that can seem a bit muddy if you don't pay attention for a few minutes. It's definitely a well-written story, and I'm sure to read it again. I am even thinking of buying my own physical copy when it's released in my country. And I LOVE that there's plenty of recipes for authentic Korean food included in the story. It just gives this book a little extra star-power.

#NetGalley #ASpoonfulofTime #FloraAhn