Scrambled Eggs at Midnight

Features

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Cover Type: Paperback with 288 pages
• Published by: Puffin May 17, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0142408670
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0142408674
• Book Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 9.6 ounces

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up Calliope once lived happily with her artist parents. Then her mother decided to find herself, and now she and her daughter pack up and go at a moment's notice, following Renaissance Faires around the country. Eliot once lived with his normal family on the Carolina coast where they were all very happy. Then his father found God and dragged them to the woods to start a Fat Camp based on the motto, What Would Jesus Eat? In alternating chapters, readers follow Cal and Eliot as they struggle with growing up, finding themselves, and finding one another. While each narrator has a clear and unique voice, the two work together in perfect harmony. Supporting characters all adults are well developed and distinctive. Reluctant teen readers may be drawn to this title by the bubble-gum-cutesy cover, but they will be hooked by the strong, quirky story of love and family. Morgan Johnson-Doyle, Sierra High School, Colorado Springs, CO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Gr. 7-10. "My mother is a wench. It says so right on her W-2." Fifteen-year-old Calliope (Cal) is tired of sleeping in tents and following her free-spirited mother, who works at Renaissance fairs, selling handmade jewelry and serving drinks. She yearns for four walls, her father back in Texas, and a deeper sense of place, connection, and love. Then, while spending the summer in Asheville, North Carolina, Cal meets Elliot, also 15, whose father runs a Christian camp for overweight kids. Like David Levithan and Rachel Cohn's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006), this coauthored love story unfolds in alternating chapters narrated in Cal and Elliot's hilarious, heart-tugging voices. Although the adult characters veer toward caricature, and the story's closing events feel a bit hasty and undeveloped, the authors raise a potentially routine summer romance into a refreshing, poetic, memorable story filled with the precise small details that nudge people toward love--from the sound of a necklace to the taste of homemade barbeque sauce. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Scrambled Eggs at Midnight (Hardcover) Calliope is a normal teenage girl. Well, she wants to be. Unfortunately, her chance at a normal life is overshadowed by the reality of her mother's job, which is that of a wench. "My mother is a wench. It says so right on her W-2." Consequently, the opening at the Asheville Renaissance Faire prompts Calliope's mother, Delores, to pack up and move to North Carolina for employment at the largest Renaissance Faire in the country. And, once again, Calliope is uprooted and whisked away on another one of her mother's whims. Eliot also wishes to take a stab at normalcy. He is the son of a religious pioneer, otherwise known as "The Dad", who founded the Sonshine Valley Christian Camp, which is a fat-camp filled with Christ. "The Dad" recently expanded his religious marketing horizon to include books and a television channel dedicated to serving the Lord and losing the weight. Eliot, however, is lost in all of the fanaticism, and reminisces on the memories of his family before his father became obsessed with his work. Then one day Calliope meets Eliot, and they are both fascinated with each other. Their friendship grows and strengthens, and soon their relationship, which both Delores and "The Dad" disapprove of, becomes all-consuming for both parties. But for once, they both feel like what they have is normal. Sadly, their relationship is threatened by many factors, including Delores's hopes to move once again, and "The Dad" being suspicious of Calliope's theological beliefs. Will Calliope and Eliot's determination to stay close persevere in the end? SCRAMBLED EGGS AT MIDNIGHT is, for the most part, a light-hearted read. The characters deal with situations somewhat out of the norm, but their personalities and conversations will be easy to relate to for most readers. I recommend this book to readers of all ages, but mostly to teenagers, who will more readily identify themselves with the characters of Calliope and Eliot. Reviewed by: Emylee