The Truth Cookie

Lulu Baker #1

by Fiona Dunbar

In a sparkling debut reminiscent of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, comes Fiona Dunbar's story of Lulu Baker, an ordinary twelve-year-old who discovers a magical secret.

Lulu Baker's dad is getting ready to marry his new girlfriend, world-famous model Varaminta le Bone. Everyone thinks Varaminta is fabulous. Everyone, that is, except Lulu. She knows that her stepmother-to-be, not to mention her awful son Torquil, is cruel, deceitful, and just using her father. But how can she make her dad see Varaminta and Torquil for who they really are?

When a magical recipe book called THE APPLE STAR finds its way into Lulu's hands, she finds that some very unusual ingredients and some help from her friends just might do the trick.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Magic, Contemporary

219 pages, Hardcover

First published July 4, 2005

About the author

Fiona Dunbar is a British author. She was born in 1961 in Hemel Hempstead and as well as being a writer, she is also an illustrator and a graphic artist. She has written and sometimes illustrated books such as the Silk Sisters trilogies and Toon-Head. Her books, The Lulu Baker trilogies, have also been adapted to become a children's TV series called Jinx.

She now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca W

The Truth Cookie

By Fiona Dunbar

219pp. Great Britain

Orchard Books. $15.99.
0-439-74022-3

If you like fairytales, you should read The Truth Cookie by Fiona

Dunbar. I have read fairytales but The Truth Cookie is beyond

the fireworks on July 4th. The Truth Cookie is about a girl Lulu,

whose mother died and so she has to live with her father’s evil

girlfriend, Varaminta Le Bone, and her evil little son, Torquil. This

book brings me back to when I was a little kid because it reminds me of

the movie named Cinderella. In the movie Cinderella, her

mother dies and her father remarries to an evil woman who has two evil

daughters, but her father dies and leaves her with her evil step mother

and step sisters to do the house chores. Now will she ever get rid of

them in time before THE wedding?


This book is about a girl, Lulu who has to live with her father’s evil

girlfriend, Varaminta and her evil son, Torquil. Lulu tries to show her

father who they really are but when her father doesn’t believe her, she

takes measures into her own hands. One day when Varaminta brings the

beauty salon home to Lulu, she runs away all the way to a town she has

never been step foot into this book store and she looks at the books,

accidentally dropping some books. One of the books caught her eye, it

said “ For my lovely Lulu


Happy Birthday!


Lots of love,


Mum”

The book keeper said “The book finds you” and there was a voice “Found

you!” and it was Varaminta. When her father is on business trips

Varaminta-- an ex supermodel and author of the book called “How to Be as

Thin as Me”-- makes her do chores around at home.


In Cinderella and The Truth Cookie there are many

similarities. For example in Cinderella there is an evil step mother and

two evil step sisters who tortures Cinderella and make her do all the

house chores, fairy god-mother who protects her and helps her in her

problems, and her friends-the animals who help her in getting her

chores and mission finished and in time. In The Truth Cookie

there is the evil girlfriend and her evil son who tortures Lulu, the

babysitter who protects and helps Lulu with her problems, and her best

friend Frenchy who helps Lulu with her mission. My opinion about the

book The Truth Cookie is it is another version of

Cinderella. I think it is another Cinderella because of

the plot line, settings and themes are similar to each other.


I think The Truth cookie is a good book for all ages and

people who enjoy reading fairytale because this book is mainly about

fairly tales. I think this book is for all ages because if little kids

like Cinderella, then they will like The Truth Cookie. The

two books are similar in various ways and yet different in various ways.

I think The Truth Cookie is just a book for older kids because it

has more pages and some harder words for little kids but if you explain

it clearly and in detail kids will understand the story and hopefully

they will have enjoyed the book as much as I did when I was reading it.


The Truth Cookie is about Lulu and she is stuck in her

sticky situation. The Truth Cookie and you are like milk and

cookies. Will Cinderella ever get to go to the ball? Will Lulu ever get

her fairytale ending?

[Pandora · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Cinderella type story in which Lulu has to find a way to stop her Dad from marrying a woman who out to ruin Lulu's life. The woman also has a son who acts like an evil stepsister. Lulu finds a solution in a mysterious cookbook.

Review: The book is more two and a half stars. The story worked pretty well although the Dad was perhaps, a little too clueless about what was happening. The story I also found to be a little too dragged out. It isn't till about half way through the book that Lulu's finds the solution. The end is also dragged out with a long where are the cookies bit that didn't add anything to the story. This though is my adult opinion. I think girls might find the story more enjoyable.

I just noticed that is suppose to be a trilogy. I don't know if there is enough for two more stories though. The characters are okey but, there is nothing about them that would make me read another story. The story is also over by the end of the book and I'm happy enough to stop here.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre- Fantasy
Lulu baker is a girl who has been having problems with her evil soon to be stepmother and soon to be stepbrother. Nothing a little baking cant fix. This book has a nice twist instead of a super hero saving the day baking ends up being what helps Lulu out of her situation. In the book there is hidden symbolism like the pastry names and the names of the character in the story. The author put a lot of time into making there be little things like that. These details made a big diffrence in the book.I also really enjoyed reading this book when because of the feuds betweeen characters you could really feel the tension of how much Lulu hated Varaminta and Torquil. The tension made the story really funny and gave all the reader a point of view from the characters and how they felt about each other. i thought this book was good it isnt a amazing book but it is a fun book to read because of the humor in it.

[Caitlin Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this first when I was younger and still enjoyable now.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome!

[Tatum H · Rating 3 out of 5]

February
The Truth Cookie
Fiona Dunbar

For quite a long time, a young girl named Lulu Baker was all alone with her mom, dad and of course herself, a happy little family. Everything was bright and happy for Lulu, until a horrible accident occurred. Lulu's mother was killed in a motorcycling accident, Lulu still keeps a photo of her mother. One day Lulu's dad finds a young women, who just happens to be a supermodel named Varaminta Le bone and brings along her treacherous son Torquil. When Lulu's father is around they bring happiness to him, but whenever he's away Lulu sees the true colors of Varaminta and Torquil, rude, dishonest, and just down right mean. Lulu's dad wants to make Varaminta his wife and Torquil his step-son. Lulu couldn't handle herself being put in that situation, so she sped off to a mysterious looking book store. Inside of the book store she finds herself stumbling and finding a cookbook that belonged to her mother that died seven years earlier called the " Apple Star".

This wasn't some ordinary cookbook, no not at all, it didn't have recipes for apple pie or strawberry tart. This cookbook had recipes such as love potions, and finding laughter, and one special potion called the truth potion where whoever ate the potion would only tell the truth. Then all of a sudden Lulu has this idea, that if she could only find the ingredients for this "truth potion" she could finally be able to expose the dreadful behavior of Varaminta and Torquil to her father. With Lulu's best friend by her side they both set out on a journey to find these mysterious ingredients such as crow eggs, and camels butter. She has been walking for what seems like forever, but soon sees a shop full of ingredients, that looked like baking ingredients. She walks just to find that there are all of her ingredients that she needed. After purchasing the ingredients she heads back home awaiting to make the potion. When she gets home she starts making the potion into a big batch of cookies. When the cookies are done she serves them up to Torquil and Varaminta soon after a "family" dinner, they soon realize what the cookies have something strange about them.

[Luciana Valverde · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a lot of sadness in the home of Lulu’s and the fantasy of the truth cookies, all become an adventure. This story is about the life of a girl that her name is Lulu and her mother died and the his father was going to marry to Varaminta that was a model and she have a soon that his name is Torquil and he is really mean to Lulu. The she found a book that inside there was a letter from her mother and the book was a recipe that can help you with your problems and there was the recipe of the truth cookies that make people say the truth. Lulu said to Frenchy that is her best friend and also my favorite character because he is a really good friend and helps lulu do everything she needs. Finally they make the cookies and give Varaminta the truth cookie to say the truth to lulus father that she is really mean to her. Also the book is really cool because lulu the main character said what happened in the story. Lulu is a brave girl that miss her mother and she is really fun with torquil.

[NaDell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about a girl who is trying to get her dad to see that his girlfriend and her son aren't as nice as they seem. She stumbles upon a cookbook that has strange recipes, like Truth Cookie, and other interesting recipes.
I was expecting a book that was a little more pre-teen style and it just wasn't that. The main character was dealing with a lot with the loss of her mom and her dad's new girlfriend and the housekeeper who is the only motherly figure in her life and I recommend waiting to read it until probably age 14. It was a little odd and magical and just strange most of the time.

[Abby Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was pretty good! Lulu Baker's dad is getting ready to marry his new girlfriend, world-famous model Varaminta le Bone. Everyone thinks Varaminta is fabulous. Everyone, that is, except Lulu. She knows that her stepmother-to-be, not to mention her awful son Torquil, is cruel, deceitful, and just using her father. But how can she make her dad see Varaminta and Torquil for who they really are?
When a magical recipe book called THE APPLE STAR finds its way into Lulu's hands, she finds that some very unusual ingredients and some help from her friends just might do the trick.

[Candice Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if there was a magical cookery book with recipes to make people fall in love, make people laugh, stop people getting angry and also make people tell the truth.
Well that’s what Lulu finds or rather finds her. She needs to bake a truth cookie to reveal her horrid step mum to be real intentions. Can she do it before it’s too late ?
Great for 7+

[lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of my favourite childhood books, my mom bought it for me from value village in grade 2 <3

[Katie Sawyers Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another childhood re-read and was a quick fun read

[Jesse F · Rating 2 out of 5]

July book report
The Truth Cookie
Fiona Dunbar

Have you ever wonderd what it would be like to only tell the truth? Well the book "The Truth Cookie", is about a girl named Lulu who does just that. Her best fruend is named Frenchy. Frenchy will do anything to make sure Lulu is fine. Then there is her dads girlfriend. Lets just say she is a gold digger. She has married many men. She also has a son. Her son is a follower. He follows wherever she is and is just as mean and bad as her.

The main ideas in this book is Lulu's dad is in love with a lady he doesn't truly know. She acts all inesent in front of him, but when he's not there, she is a nasty women and so is her son. His girlfriend is acually his fiance so she was already planning a wedding. They are super mean to Lulu and lie a lot to him so she maid so truth cookies. Now The women didn'y eat any but the son ate 3. So he told the truth to everyone like that. I know this is the main idea because the dad was never home on work stuff so they would only talk about this.

[Kaitlyn King · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Truth Cookie is an amazing and touching book. The main character Lucy, goes through many changes throughout her teenage years. Things at school start to change. Along with many things at home with her father. Lucy's father is dating a women named Valerie. Lucy loves to cook, but Valerie tries to ruin it for her. Valerie secretly tries to make Lucy's life miserable, when her father isn't around. But she has to someone convince her father to stop dating her before something big happens, like if he were to propose.

Lucy is a great character. She treats people the way they want to be treated, in a nice way. There are many context clues to look for in this book. Some of the words and phrases I didn't get so I looked them up, and now I get them. I would recommend this book for ages 10-16. It truly is a great book. It teaches you to be greatful for what you have and not to take things for granted.

[MockingBirdLeigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is interesting and has a great plot. Fiona Dunbar did an excellent job of writing about the apple star, it was well thought out and has a good meaning behind it. I love how she used the name lulu, and Cassandra was a great character. She was smart, and clever. When I finished the book I wished it would have gone on longer. I hated how Torquil acted and i wish i could've slapped him. I don't like models that much and Varminta made showed my point. she was evil, and awful. Overall this book was an amazing book and I look forward to getting Cupid Cakes, the second book of the series.

Another thing I'd like to add: I named my dog after lulu. My baby puppy. That says a lot to me.

[Kayla Grant]

I thought this book was a funny book that showed humor in the things the characters actions.
Lulu is a 12-year old is living with her dad and their maid. When her father's girlfriend moves in with her son, Lulu has an issue. When her father is not home, her soon to be stepmother becomes even and so does her son but her when her dad comes home she acts sweet. When Lulu's feelings get hurt from Varaminta's cruel words she decides she has to stop her father from marrying her. She goes into a book store and find a book and is surprised to see a cookbook addressed to her. She finds a truth recipe and decides to make cookies to get Varaminta to tell the truth.
I recommend this book to everyone that enjoys a good laugh and a fun time.

[Cortney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Truth Cookie BY Fiona Dunbar was Okay. I liked the book because it was interesting how Lulu was trying to get rid of Varaminta, also I thought that this book is like a version of cinderella. The reason I didn’t like this book is because it was kind of slow. In the beginning I was getting bored because it didn’t understand why it was called “The Truth Cookie” because there were no hints or clues. The strengths of this book is that it has a good story line. I really liked how Dunbar incorporated magic into this story instead of just having Lulu make excuses or Just tells her dad etc. The weaknesses of this book was sometimes it was hard to follow and it went fairly slow and it didn’t drag me in as much as I wanted. Overall this a good read.

[Kelaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shades of a prince-less Cinderella...fantasy-style.

Lulu's mother dies when she was a child; dad recently meets and becomes engaged to the wicked, lying, soon-to-be stepmom (who's a model with obnoxious son and poodle). Lulu happens upon a cookbook that contains recipes to create a variety of situations...one is cookies that make the eater tell the truth. Enter the fairy godmother in the form of an african-american woman who can get all the weird ingredients the recipe calls for...she also has some kind of link to Lulu's mom. The cookies work their magic and Lulu will be returning in a planned trilogy.

Contains very british idioms...might put off reluctant readers.

[04744nf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good Book. I don't have much to say about it but I do remember that I was kinda bored at first and then dissappointed when Torquil told the truth, and not Verminta. I do reccomend this book though.
OH, and I think that the girl's dad is going to marry the maid or whatever she's called.


The Truth Cookie

[Anna Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a scheming gold-digger and her slimy son have the wool drawn tight over Lulu's dad's eyes, what can she do? With help from some magical characters, spells, "truth cookies," the spirit of her deceased mum, and her best friend-- everything may turn out okay. This is a very cute book, although there isn't much depth to the "bad guys" who are Dahl-like in their horrid nature. Overall, this is a fun read that anyone with a sense of imagination and justice can enjoy.

Warning: This book does include magic and is not for people who are religiously opposed to such.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not your average book. It is about a girl who's mother died when she was about 6 yrs. old. Her dad won the "Sweet Nothings" article. Varminta meets her dad and they are planning on getting married. But there are some secrets that Lulu needs to make her dad see. To find out how she does that, READ THE BOOK.

[Hima · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really good!! Reasons why I liked it:
1. The main character was exciting, and the ames of the antagonists of the story were funny. Torquil??? Former Model, Varaminta Le Bone??? Waxia Legge-Suntan?? Wow.....
2. As all good authors do, made me hate the antagonists
3. Funny exploits dotted the plot!!

[Fashiongirlgoldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually rate this more like three and a half stars. it was a pretty good book. They kind of had the stereotypical evil stepmother, and her nasty son, but whatever. Lulu was a likable character, and I enjoyed the magic stuff. Plus the bookshop thing was cool. I thought the whole apple star cookbook was interesting, and the recipes were cute.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in fifth grade and still remember it. I normally read books that just so happen to be in a sires and read only the first or the second book. But this one I read all three of them. I found them to be outstandingly entertaining. I couldn't seem to put any of them down and I'm a slow reader so I now find it strange that I have actually completed a trilogy....

[Pritika I.]

All Lulu wants is to be happy. How can she when her mother is dead and her father is dating one of the worst people in the world. Lulu's father's fiancé has an attitude and a trouble-making son. Lulu tries to prove to her dad that Varminta is witch but he won't listen. This book is full of suprises.

[Coney Zealley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much! I remember the first time I read it was in middle school and I got it in the morning, read it under my desk whenever I got a second, and even took it to the school dance and finished it in the corner. It became my favorite book and is still one that sits in a treasured spot on my shelves.

[Aaleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this magical,sweet book!
if you like a light, fairy tale, cute book you will like this!
It is very well written and each character has their own individual characteristic. Very original and creative. 8/10

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was intriguing from the start with its humor and likeable main character lulu. The only thing that let it down was not the happily ever after ending but the solutio to lulus problem that seems to start getting very far fetched.

[Jo]

This was literally the BEST BOOK EVER!! For those who haven't read it, it definitely is a MUST READ!!!!!!!! Things originally seem as if Lulu's doomed, but in the end, a little baking puts things right!! It's sooooo awesome!

[Shaefer]

I read this when I was a kid and I loved it a lot. I don't exactly recall why. Maybe because of its humor or because I felt I related to it well.

Either way it remains a book embedded into my memory of my childhood. So for sentimental reasons, I rely on this book being a "classic."