The first thing you need to know about Zinnia Jakes is that her real name is Zoe Jones. Zoe lives with her Aunt Jam while her dad works away. She’s a normal kid with a best friend and a cat (who has some special cat skills), but… she’s also the secret baker Zinnia Jakes, who bakes the most amazing and delicious cakes.
The Super Spy is book 3 in this cool series (following The Crumbling Castle and The Tumbling Tortoises), but it’s no drama if you start here in the series. Author extraordinaire Brenda Gurr brings you up to speed on the series background quick smart (and naturally) and you’re off into the story…
In book 3, Zoe and her best friend Addie are getting ready for an ultra-special event happening at the school on Saturday night. Aunt Jam, too, has a big event happening on Saturday night and to top it all off, a cake order has come in for Zinnia Jakes for a super cool spy party. Zoe needs to figure out how to be in two places at once, all the while protecting her secret identity from her classmates and from the whole spy party.
This is a super fun junior fiction book. All the characters are funky and different, which I love, and yet real and relatable. Zoe is a cool kid with some very special talents, but she also gets in trouble in class and doesn’t exactly get along with all her classmates. These touches ground her character and make her someone kids can both relate to and aspire to be.
This novel doesn’t have illustrations but there are cute pictures at the start of each chapter. The text is large, and the chapters are a good, manageable size. You also get one of Zinnia’s fabulous cake recipes at the back.
It’s good junior fiction fun that will appeal to the kids who like stories set in the real world, with an added splash of fantastical.
Title: The Fabulous Cakes of Zinnia Jakes (Book #3 The Super Spy)
Author: Brenda Gurr
Publisher: New Frontier Publishing, $14.99
Publication Date: 1 August 2021
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781922326157
For ages: 7+
Type: Junior Fiction
