Lasagna Means Love (juvenile Fiction)

Mo (Maureen), protagonist of Kate O'Shaughnessy's Lasagne Means Love You, is in quite a bind. The grandmother she's lived most of her life with has died. Her biological father is nowhere to be found. Her uncle whom her grandmother had counted on to take her if she no longer could is unwilling to sacrifice his military career to parent.
Children's Protective Services steps in. While continuing to search for biological kin, they're putting Mo in foster care. Her first placement is a disaster. Her second, to a well off professional couple, seems to be working out.
Mo's grandmother had urged her to get a hobby. She'd shrugged hat idea off, sure that she didn't need one. But when she stumbles on a family's recipe book with pictures and anecdotes it stirs something in her. Soon she's teaching herself how to cook (an oven disaster gets her kicked out of her first placement) and collecting people's family recipes and the stories behind them. Maybe if she searches diligently enough she'll be able to find a recipe from her own family.
Mo's story, narrated in a series of letters to her grandmother, tells of her struggle to find a place where she belongs. It's a poignant and powerful coming of age narrative. And it includes quite a few of the recipes which should delight budding chefs.
On a purrrsonal note, I have a quite meaningful story about family recipes. When Eugene and I were about to get married his mother asked me what I'd like for a wedding gift. There was something I wanted that she couldn't get at a mall. I asked her for the recipes for Eugene's favorite foods. That was so I could serve him the foods he grew up with, And here is the recipe I would have given Mo. It's richer that the traditional cookie recipe. And it's safe for people with egg allergies.
Arlene's Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 1/2 cups applesauce
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
I/2 cup shortening
Chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375. Dissolve the baking soda in the applesauce. Add all ingredients except chocolate chips and blend well. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop rounded spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
A great big shout out goes out to my mother-in-law, Arlene Hathaway of Winterport, Maine.
Jules Hathaway