Books of Wonder

$150,000 Rugelach

$150,000 Rugelach - Main image
$8.49 $16.99 In stock

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A delicious tale of rivalry, friendship, heartache, and dessert! Fame-obsessed Jack and somber Jillian, who is mourning the loss of her mother, become a mismatched duo selected to compete for $150,000 in a high-stakes baking contest jam-packed with hilarious high jinks.

Exploding with loud, rock 'n' roll attitude, eleven-year-old Jack Fineman dreams of becoming the greatest pastry chef who ever lived. His plans are thrown off course when his butterscotch basil brownies are upstaged at his sixth-grade holiday party by a simple plate of chocolate rugelach brought in by Jillian Mermelstein-the new girl at school whose mother has just died and who only wants to be left alone.

These budding bakers' lives are mixed together when they are selected to compete as teammates in a nationally televised competition. For Jack, this is his chance to advance one step closer to culinary greatness. For Jillian, it's an opportunity to help her father by winning her share of the $150,000 top prize.

Preparing to face bakers from the city's other middle schools, Jack and Jillian struggle to find the right recipe for working together. Along the way, they make the world's most irresistible oatmeal cricket cookies, battle Jack's checkered-pants-wearing brother for miniature golf supremacy, and discover the troubling reasons why each of them was chosen for the contest.

Customer Reviews (4.9 / 5 · 20 reviews)

James ★★★★★

The rivalry between Jack and Jillian pulled me in right away, but the way their friendship builds through shared grief over her mother hit me harder than I expected. I finished it in two sittings and immediately texted my sister to borrow my copy.

Ruby ★★★★★

I bought this for my book club and we couldn’t stop talking about how the rivalry between Jack and Jillian sneaks up on you—it’s funny one page, then suddenly heartbreaking the next. The dessert angle weaves through the story in a way that feels genuinely hungry-making, and I found myself rooting fo

Hazel M. ★★★★★

The way Jack and Jillian’s grief and ambition intertwine over those rugelach recipes felt so real I nearly cried on the bus. A quick, warm read, but it stayed with me for days.