About the book …

Can Mimi undo the mayhem caused by her baking in this contemporary-fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

Eleven-year-old Mimi Mackson comes from a big Indian American family: Dad’s a renowned food writer, Mom’s a successful businesswoman, and her three older siblings all have their own respective accomplishments. It’s easy to feel invisible in such an impressive family, but Mimi’s dream of proving she’s not the least-talented member of her family seems possible when she discovers a contest at the new bakery in town. Plus, it’ll start her on the path to becoming a celebrity chef like her culinary idol, Puffy Fay.

But when Mimi’s dad returns from a business trip, he’s mysteriously lost his highly honed sense of taste. Without his help, Mimi will never be able to bake something impressive enough to propel her to gastronomic fame.

Drawn into the woods behind her house by a strangely familiar song, Mimi meets Vik, a boy who brings her to parts of the forest she’s never seen. Who knew there were banyan trees and wild boars in Massachusetts? Together they discover exotic ingredients and bake them into delectable and enchanting treats.

But as her dad acts stranger every day, and her siblings’ romantic entanglements cause trouble in their town, Mimi begins to wonder whether the ingredients she and Vik found are somehow the cause of it all. She needs to use her skills, deductive and epicurean, to uncover what’s happened. In the process, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet. . . .

Praise for MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM …

A delectable treat for food and literary connoisseurs alike. (Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW)

This riff on A Midsummer Night’s Dream is heartfelt and ridiculously fun. Mimi, sweet as sugar with a heart of gold, creates as many problems as she solves, but readers will be cheering for her and her family the whole way. (Booklist)

Midsummer’s Mayhem is an enchantment of a novel, bursting with magic, mystery, and mouth-watering baked goods. Readers who have their own baking-show dreams will be cheering for Mimi until the very last page. (Kate Messner, award-winning author of Breakout, The Seventh Wish, and All the Answers)

Midsummer’s Mayhem is a delightful confection of a family story full of heart, magic, and a baking championship with mysteriously high stakes! LaRocca takes an almost-throwaway reference in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and reclaims it by having a multiracial Indian-American family at the center of her tale. Mimi’s pluck, gentle courage, and knack for combining flavors will capture readers’ hearts, imaginations, and undoubtedly, taste buds! (Sayantani DasGupta, author of the New York Times-bestselling Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series)

About the author …

Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area with her wonderful family and impossibly cute dog. She is a writer of stories for children, doctor of adults, and baker of too many sweet treats. Her debut middle grade novel, MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM, is inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the hours she’s spent watching competitive baking shows. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @rajanilarocca or visit her website at www.rajanilarocca.com.