The Takeout

by Tracy Badua, Ferdelle Capistrano (Read by)

Overview

When a celebrity chef’s new restaurant threatens Mila’s family’s food truck, she plans to expose them for the recipe thieves they are—even if that means dabbling in the Filipino folk magic she’s tried to avoid. Fans of Tae Keller and Lily LaMotte will cheer for this charming story about food, family, and finding the place you belong.

Mila may have moved to Coral Beach months ago, but it still doesn’t feel like home. A few awkward incidents with her new friends make her wonder if she’ll ever neatly fit into the super-samey small town.

The only place she can be herself is at her dad’s Filipino-Indian food truck, The Banana Leaf. But when celebrity chef twins the Fab Foodie Brothers open a restaurant nearby, it turns out the food they are serving is exactly the same as The Banana Leaf's—right down to the recipes!

Mila realizes that she needs to take the Fab Foodie Brothers down before they run her family's tiny truck out of town. But that means dabbling in the Filipino magic that she has shied away from her whole life . . . as well as alienating her new friends.  

Does Mila have to choose between her family and fitting in? Or, like the best recipes, will a blend of the traditional and the unexpected mix into something truly special?

Also by Tracy Badua:

• Freddie vs. The Family Curse

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212710329
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Product dimensions:	5.89(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tracy Badua is a Filipino American author of books full of humor, magic, and young people with sunny hearts in a sometimes stormy world. By day, she is an attorney who works in national policy and programs, and by night, she squeezes in writing, family time, and bites of her secret candy stash. She lives in San Diego, California, with her family and photogenic Maltese.

Tracybadua.com

Twitter: tracybwrites

Instagram: tracybaduawrites

Editorial Reviews

05/08/2023

A Filipina tween determines to save her family’s business by using secret Filipino folk magic in this energetic novel by Badua (This Is Not a Personal Statement). Twelve-year-old Mila Pascual, newly moved to Coral Beach, Calif., works at the Banana Leaf, her family’s Filipino Indian food truck, which is run by her father and his business partner, Mr. Ram. Food isn’t the only thing they serve, though; sometimes Mila covertly adds special magical tinctures to the recipes to help people, as when she whips up an elixir to assist a heartbroken girl in getting over a breakup. When white-cued twin television chefs Chip and Chaz Darlington, the Fab Foodie Brothers, open restaurant Marigold and Myth across the street from the food truck, Mila is at first excited to meet some celebrities. But once she realizes that their entrées are suspiciously like the Banana Leaf’s, she investigates with the help of Ajay, Mr. Ram’s nephew. Both Mila and Ajay are enterprising protagonists whose teamwork and dedication to their families add heart to this briskly paced magical adventure. Through Mila’s cheeky first-person narration, Badua tackles themes of family, identity, and perseverance. Ages 8–12. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"A magical and delicious read that’s filled with love." — Kirkus Reviews

"Badua’s latest novel is a fusion of magic and cooking with a dash of humor. . . . This story that explores the struggle of fitting in also touches on the challenge some children of immigrant parents deal with when one parent must live temporarily overseas." — Booklist

"Both Mila and Ajay are enterprising protagonists whose teamwork and dedication to their families add heart to this briskly paced magical adventure. Through Mila’s cheeky first-person narration, Badua tackles themes of family, identity, and perseverance." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Narrator Ferdelle Capistrano sounds full of determination as tween Mila. The future of her family's food truck is threatened when Mila's celebrity idols, the Fab Foodie Brothers, open a new restaurant in town--one with a suspiciously similar menu. Shenanigans ensue as she tries to prove that they stole The Banana Leaf's delicious Filipino-Indian fusion recipes. Capistrano effectively communicates Mila's range of emotions--she worries about alienating her new friends, who are also fans of the Brothers; she misses her mom, who is in the Philippines caring for her grandfather; she wishes her dad would fight harder for his food truck dream; and she struggles to find the confidence to be her authentic self. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile

Narrator Ferdelle Capistrano sounds full of determination as tween Mila. The future of her family's food truck is threatened when Mila's celebrity idols, the Fab Foodie Brothers, open a new restaurant in town--one with a suspiciously similar menu. Shenanigans ensue as she tries to prove that they stole The Banana Leaf's delicious Filipino-Indian fusion recipes. Capistrano effectively communicates Mila's range of emotions--she worries about alienating her new friends, who are also fans of the Brothers; she misses her mom, who is in the Philippines caring for her grandfather; she wishes her dad would fight harder for his food truck dream; and she struggles to find the confidence to be her authentic self. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile

2023-04-24
A Filipino American girl endeavors to save her family’s livelihood with a little bit of magic.

Twelve-year-old Mila Pascual and her dad help run the Banana Leaf, a Filipino Indian fusion food truck they own with their friends Mr. Ram and his nephew, Ajay, in Coral Beach, California. Following their recent move from suburban Los Angeles, Mila’s adjusting to being “the only chubby, short-black-haired, dark-brown-skinned Asian girl in a sea of beach mansion Barbies.” Her sister, Catalina, is attending college in LA, and her mom is caring for Mila’s grandfather in the Philippines. Mila loves inventing new recipes but feels less certain of her abilities with the albularyo, or folk healer, skills passed down through her mother’s line. Trouble comes when TV celebrity chefs Chip and Chaz, Mila’s idols, open their own Filipino and Indian restaurant in town—with menu items exactly matching the Banana Leaf’s. Mila and Ajay’s suspicions of sabotage are confirmed by a sudden health department inspection of the food truck following an anonymous complaint. The friends’ sleuthing also reveals the celebrities’ past shady behavior. Mila’s albularyo potions might help save the day, if only she can believe enough in the magic she creates to make it work. Badua sensitively explores Mila’s struggles with cultural identity and a sense of belonging in relation to both family and peers, particularly as her experiences with marginalization diverge from Catalina’s. The ending neatly ties up all the loose ends.

A magical and delicious read that’s filled with love. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews