Baking for Dave

She crosses the country to enter a baking contest, but wins a bigger prize

Melissa Palmer author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Future Horizons Incorporated

Published:30th Nov '16

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Baking for Dave cover

Iris Heller, a teenager with Sensory Processing Disorder, runs away to compete in a national bake-off contest.In order to get there, she steals her mom’s car, travels along the East Coast, and does the most terrifying thingof all — interacts with actual people! Iris has never been like other girls, but she’s not about to start letting thatget in the way.

Iris has this profound fascination for the musican Dave Matthews, and she feels a compelling need to competein the bake-off for Dave. To compensate for nervousness, she has the habit of humming, beatboxing, andmaking musical contraptions out of items around her. It is this talent that gets noticed at several road stopsalong the way, which leads to her inevitable ""gone viral"" glory. At a donut shop, Iris sings like an angel. At acoffee shop, she plays a symphony using cups and the soda fountain. At a restaurant, she builds a gloriousmusical fountain out of dishes and pans. Iris is the kind of pure spirit who brings the best out of the worldaround her without knowing it.

Iris’ mom (Maisy) and her best friend Eric set out to find Iris. All lives converge at Happy World, the Disneyesqueparadise, where the bake-off takes place. Iris, whose life has been one of isolation andmisunderstanding, finds out just how much she is loved. It doesn't matter whether she wins the bake-off, she'salready won the biggest contest of all, triumphing in life.

If you seek to grasp what drives adolescents and adults with Sensory Processing Disorder, jump in and take a road trip with Iris, Maisy, and the folks who join them in their journey. Perceiving how they feel as they see, hear, taste, smell, and touch the world will give you a memorable ride. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!"

— Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., author of 'The Out-of-Sync Child Grows Up: Coping with SPD in the Adolescent and Young Adult Years'



"While telling a compelling tale, Palmer tears away the shades that have been closed on one of the least understood problems many children have. She absolutely nails the descriptions of how one with sensory issues feels, producing images a reader is likely not to forget. . . it’s the clearest depiction of someone experiencing sensory issues I’ve ever read, and it’s so easy to read."

— Autism Asperger’s Digest, August 2016 issue (Book Review by Lyn Dunsavage Young)

ISBN: 9781935567677

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 523g

200 pages