The Power of Poppy Pendle (25 page)
Read The Power of Poppy Pendle Online
Authors: Natasha Lowe
13. Now shut your eyes, take a bite, and wonderful memories will come
flooding back!
14. Store the little almond cakes in an airtight container at room
temperature.
First of all, a huge thank-you to my amazing agent, Ann Tobias, for all her help and hard work on this book. She guided me through countless rounds of revision, teaching me the fine art of the edit, and never stopped believing in Poppy Pendle.
To Paula Wiseman, my wonderful editor at Simon & Schuster, who embraced Poppy with open arms and gave her the perfect home.
Thank you so much to Jane Gilbert Keith for all her fabulous suggestions and advice. She read this manuscript almost as many times as my mother did and never once complained.
Thank you to Bette Schmitt for giving Poppy her librarian’s seal of approval and sharing her with some of the kids at Deerfield Elementary School.
I am so grateful to Janet Street, who inspired me to start writing again and gave me the confidence to believe I was good enough. And to Midge and Michael Beneville, who told me this would happen from the very beginning. My heartfelt thanks to Rachel Hass, Nancy Charboneau, Kim Rosner, Pauline Boyce, and Annabelle Fenwick, who read early drafts of this manuscript and kept cheering me on. To Annalie Gilbert Keith, who has shown me that you only need to touch one reader to make a difference, and for dressing up as Poppy Pendle on Halloween before I even had a publisher!
For the daily phone calls and friendship, I could never have made it through without Sarah Murray. And to Rachel Roberts, who tasted and tested all my recipes with me, helping to fine-tune the perfect caramel cookie! I also need to thank Stacie Chapley, MaryLou Rosner, Micah and Lily Roberts, and Martha Price, who all kindly tested recipes from Poppy’s bakery.
To my parents, for their never-ending support and for reading countless versions of
Poppy
, especially my mother, who has been my spell-checker and grammar editor ever since I wrote my first story back in kindergarten!
Last, but most important of all, a special thank-you to my family. To my four wonderful children, Sebastian, Oliver, Ben, and Juliette, who have spent many evenings patiently waiting for dinner to appear while their mother tapped away on her laptop. You inspire and amaze me every single day and I am so proud of you all. And to Jon, my biggest supporter and love of my life, who knew this would happen long before I ever did!
Natasha Lowe
knew as a child that she wanted to
be either a writer, an adventurer, or a fancy teashop owner. So she did a little bit
of everything, traveling from her native London to America, where she ran the Tea
House bed-and-breakfast and wowed guests with her grandmother’s shortbread recipe.
She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and four children.
The
Power of Poppy Pendle
is her first novel.
Jacket design by Chloë Foglia
Jacket illustration copyright © 2012 by Seb Mesnard
A Paula Wiseman Book
Simon & Schuster
Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real
people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and
incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual
events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Natasha Lowe
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in any form.
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Book design by Chloë Foglia
The text for this book is set in Cochin.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lowe, Natasha.
The power of Poppy Pendle / Natasha Lowe. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Paula Wiseman Book.”
Summary: Ten-year-old Poppy will do anything to realize her dream of
becoming a baker, although her parents insist she attend Ruthersfield, the exclusive
girls school for witchcraft, where she excels despite her dislike of magic. Includes
baking tips and recipes.
ISBN 978-1-4424-4679-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-4424-4680-9 (eBook)
[1. Self-realization—Fiction. 2. Bakers and bakeries—Fiction. 3.
Magic—Fiction.
4. Family life—Fiction. 5. Witches—Fiction. 6.
Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L9627Pow 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2012006735