My Chocolate Year
by Charlotte Herman
by Charlotte Herman
MY CHOCOLATE YEAR by Charlotte Herman
Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 2/19/08
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reviewed by: Marie Robinson
Rating: 5 Stars
What a gem of a book! MY CHOCOLATE YEAR by Charlotte Herman starts out as a sweet story about 10-year-old
Dorrie, who is a fifth-grader in Chicago just after the end of World War II. Dorrie is excited about the annual “Sweet
Semester” contest run by her teacher. Every student is to plan a special dessert, which they will bring in to class at the end
of the semester for a contest. The students sample each other’s desserts and vote on the best one. They also write an
essay explaining their choice of dessert, and their teacher judges the best essay.
Dorrie has been looking forward to her chance at winning Sweet Semester since her older brother, Artie, participated
when he was in fifth grade. She is determined to win, and the book is interspersed with her attempts at various
concoctions. It even includes actual recipes for some of the desserts, including Peppermint Chocolate Sticks and a
scrumptious-sounding Chocolate Nut Torte.
While Dorrie is focused on the contest and on finding that perfect recipe, her family is adjusting to post-war life. They are
Russian Jews who managed to escape the Holocaust, but not all of their relatives were so lucky. It sounds like a
surprisingly sad topic to combine with the lightweight feel of the dessert contest, but author Herman executes this
integration flawlessly.
In fact, her inclusion of the cultural elements of post-World War II Chicago make reading this book educational without
ever feeling like it. For instance, I had no idea that there used to be “silver” pennies, or that chocolate chip cookies were
invented by a woman named Ruth Wakefield, or that sugar was rationed.
It also makes perfect sense to show this time and place in American life through the eyes of a fifth-grader, and of course
she is more focused on her big contest at school than with the letters her parents receive from relatives overseas. Dorrie
does have a big heart, though, and it is that heart and conscience that guides her to what she eventually chooses as her
entry for Sweet Semester.
Illustrated by: LeUyen Pham
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 2/19/08
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reviewed by: Marie Robinson
Rating: 5 Stars
What a gem of a book! MY CHOCOLATE YEAR by Charlotte Herman starts out as a sweet story about 10-year-old
Dorrie, who is a fifth-grader in Chicago just after the end of World War II. Dorrie is excited about the annual “Sweet
Semester” contest run by her teacher. Every student is to plan a special dessert, which they will bring in to class at the end
of the semester for a contest. The students sample each other’s desserts and vote on the best one. They also write an
essay explaining their choice of dessert, and their teacher judges the best essay.
Dorrie has been looking forward to her chance at winning Sweet Semester since her older brother, Artie, participated
when he was in fifth grade. She is determined to win, and the book is interspersed with her attempts at various
concoctions. It even includes actual recipes for some of the desserts, including Peppermint Chocolate Sticks and a
scrumptious-sounding Chocolate Nut Torte.
While Dorrie is focused on the contest and on finding that perfect recipe, her family is adjusting to post-war life. They are
Russian Jews who managed to escape the Holocaust, but not all of their relatives were so lucky. It sounds like a
surprisingly sad topic to combine with the lightweight feel of the dessert contest, but author Herman executes this
integration flawlessly.
In fact, her inclusion of the cultural elements of post-World War II Chicago make reading this book educational without
ever feeling like it. For instance, I had no idea that there used to be “silver” pennies, or that chocolate chip cookies were
invented by a woman named Ruth Wakefield, or that sugar was rationed.
It also makes perfect sense to show this time and place in American life through the eyes of a fifth-grader, and of course
she is more focused on her big contest at school than with the letters her parents receive from relatives overseas. Dorrie
does have a big heart, though, and it is that heart and conscience that guides her to what she eventually chooses as her
entry for Sweet Semester.