Francine Garcia and the Recipe for Joy - Summary

Francine Garcia and the Recipe for Joy

This novel weaves friendships, family and ferrets into a story both funny and heartwarming. Nine-year-old Francine Garcia is supposed to help look after her little brother at Auntie Flora’s while Mama and Papa take baby Ramón to Atlanta for a month of important medical treatments. Managing Alfond isn’t easy—he throws up all the time, and wrecks her things, and gets frightened by a circus tiger. At first, Francine’s recipe for joy involves sabotaging her aunt’s best attempts at peace and tranquility, but when that doesn’t work out, she realizes that joy can be found in the most surprising places if you give it a chance. Her emotional journey parallels Auntie Flora’s recovery and return to community since the death two years ago of Sylvie, her fiancé—an ordeal that suggests the historical path of same-sex weddings in church contexts.

Realistic fiction for ages 8 – 12.

Yellow Dog/Great Plains Press, 2026