Excellent book for young readers. Lovely story, it was magical!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

I listened to this as The Golden Orchard on Audible some time ago and was so excited to see it listed on Netgalley with a gorgeous new cover! The story holds up just as well and it is accompanied with some wonderful illustrations of the recipes.

Maya is a really authentic seventh grader, up and down and all around- prickly and sweet, hot headed and calm. The story is full of heart, thoughtful, and bittersweet, with a neat twist (or two). And the recipes sound delicious...

A magical realism book for middle grade that features time travel and food! When Maya finds out that her grandmother can travel back in time with her memories of certain foods, she spends more and more time with her in the hope of finding out about her own father. A very interesting twist I did not see coming!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! I had a hard time getting into this one at first. The concept just seemed so "out there" that I was not sure how I was going to feel about it. However, a few chapters in, I started to get intrigued. The main character is likable, I enjoyed the friend dynamic, you cannot help but love the grandmother, and the strained mother-daughter relationship started to make sense as the book went on. The connection of the food to the memories started to feel really neat, and I loved that there were recipes and illustrations "from Mya." Then I got to the twist, and I was hooked! I have talked to some of my 6th grade students about the book, and they are very interested, so I think this one will be a hit with a lot of middle grade readers. It is completely clean and has positive messages and relationships with just enough mystery to suck kids in. One reason for taking off a star was that it was hard to get into at first, and I worry kids will give up. I also felt like there were some things not clarified super well (like the time-jumping ahead), and I hate when things are loose like that. Otherwise, it took me by surprised, and I was happy I read it!

“A Spoonful of Time” is a turbulent yet tender intergenerational story. Thirteen-year-old Maya is given the job of watchdog for her Halmunee who is suffering from dementia. Maya’s mother is distant and dad is an unknown, meant to remain so, because Maya’s mother won’t talk about him. Maya longs for those lost familial relationships.

Food is the thing that brings Maya closer to Halmunee. They begin to cook together and amazingly, travel into the past to relive Halmunee’s favorite memories. Through these trips in time, Maya begins to learn about her grandmother’s life in Korea. Then, Maya meets Jeff. Somehow, they are tied together in time. Jeff teaches Maya how to really time travel, despite the rules that she has learned from Halmunee.

Ahn has created a wonderful story filled with many dips, turns, and surprises. “A Spoonful of Time” shows how food can truly bring a family together. The recipes that Halmunee uses, edited by Maya, sound delicious! Including them within the story is genius!

I loved getting to explore traditional Korean food in this heartwarming family tale!

A Spoonful of Time, takes the reader through time both by the memories of the characters and by magic. Maya gets her first taste (pun intended) of time travel with her Halmunee early in the story, but eventually this daring middle schooler is off on adventures of her own in a desperate desire to learn more about her father and the rest of her family.

While it's not a book I'd be able to teach in my classroom, I'd highly recommend it to any of my students and anyone who enjoys the themes of food, family, and friendship.

I thought this was really sweet. I liked the relationship between Maya and her grandmother and I liked the time travel element to the story.

When Maya’s Halmunee comes to visit, everything is turned upside down for Maya and her mother. As Maya learns to deal with Halmunee’s dementia and Mom’s inaccessibility, she compartmentalizes herself into Home Maya and School Maya. But then Halmunee starts cooking for Maya and as the flavors cross their tongues, they are transported back in time where they can watch their past memories. While there, Maya meets another time traveler, Jeff, but as their friendship grows, things are not how they appear.
I really enjoyed Maya’s story. The food sounded delicious, and I’m curious to try a few of the recipes. I thought that the story was going to be fairly straightforward, but the twists and turns kept surprising me. It was a solid read.

I really enjoyed this one! I liked how we get to see and learn about the past of Maya and her family.
I felt that this gave Maya a good look into understanding the relationships between her family members. I loved all the recipes! I especially liked the illustrations throughout with the recipes.
This is such a sweet book, with a wonderful look at family and culture and how they make and build us into who we are.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I enjoyed this sweet middle grade novel that mixed family relationships with time travel. The recipes sprinkled throughout the book really elevated it.