Annotation #5: Young Adult

Title: Tweet Cute Author: Emma Lord Genre: Young Adult Publication Date: 2019 Number of Pages: 358 Geographical Setting: New York City Time Period: 2020 Series (If applicable): n/a

Plot Summary: Pepper’s parents founded Big League Burger, a national food chain that has exploded onto the scene. Jack’s parents own a tiny New York deli called Girl Cheesing. Both restaurants claim to have created a grilled cheese sandwich called “Grandma’s Special” that has the exact same ingredients. Which company is the original creator? Unbeknownst to each other, Pepper and Jack get involved in a twitter war for their parents’ respective companies trying to figure out which company created the sandwich first. While they are tweeting under the companies’ handles, they are also connecting through an app (where they remain anonymous) that is popular at their school. It’s only a matter of time before they discover who is on the other end of the tweet/text through one social media outlet or another.

 

Subject Headings: Twitter, Grilled Cheese, Baking, High School, Apps

Appeal: Snarky characters, Banter-filled writing style, Character driven

3 terms that best describe this book: Funny, Feel Good, Sweet

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors: (titles link to goodreads pages)

1. The Great Grilled Cheese Book: Grown-Up Recipes for a Childhood Classic by Eric Greenspan. Most of Tweet Cute revolves around the secret recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich, and this book provides lots of variations on the classic sandwich.

2. Getting Paid to Manage Social Media by Don Rauf. An overview for teens on how to create a career out of working with social media. 

3. Build Your First Web App: Learn to Build Web Applications from Scratch by Deborah Levinson, and Todd Belton. Readers can learn to create their own app, just as one of the characters in Tweet Cute did.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors:

1. Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum. Two teens connect through anonymous texting, as one shares the ins and outs of their elite high school with the other, who is a newcomer. 

2. What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter. This book also deals with teens connecting online before connecting in real life, and it has a baking element, similar to the baking blog Pepper has in Tweet Cute. 

3. This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer Smith. A small town girl accidentally receives an email from a teen movie star, and the two begin an online friendship, later meeting in real life.

Note: I know annotations are supposed to be free of our opinions, but I wanted to say how much I loved this book! It was so fun to read - the characters were funny and I really enjoyed all of the food talk between Pepper's baking blog and the grilled cheese sandwich war. My only complaint is that the author didn't include recipes at the end of the book for Pepper's fanciful creations like Monster Cake, or the grilled cheese recipe that started all of the controversy in the book to begin with. If you enjoy YA literature (like I do), check this book out!