The Candymakers
The Candymakers by Wendy Mass is a delightful middle grade novel full of delightful characters, intrigue and peculiarity. The story opens with Logan’s point of view, the Candymaker’s son. It is a very big day, as this day marks the beginning of a candy making competition for twelve-year-olds. Logan is finally old enough to participate in a competition that his father and grandfather both won when they were twelve. As the son of a candymaker and with a lineage of candy making contest winners, Logan feels the pressure and excitement to make his own stamp on the candy making world. As the day opens, Logan meets three other children also participating in the competition (there are 28 others from different locations that will converge in one location later in the story). Miles, Daisy, and Philip are the other contestants that Logan meets in the opening.
As readers will soon discover, the story is peculiarly told from all four perspectives. Logan’s perspective ends with exploring the factory at night with Miles after uncovering some suspicious activities. From there, the story essentially begins over from Miles' perspective. Miles recounts a traumatic day when he saw a young girl drown. Though her body was never found and no one else seemed as concerned as he was, he is still haunted by this day and often makes comments about the afterlife as he builds a world and belief for the unknown girl. Miles will also speak backwards sometimes, a skill that developed after the traumatic event.
After Miles, the point of view switches to Daisy and again, returns to the beginning of the story. Readers learn that Daisy is part of a spy network, a family business, and has been employed to uncover the secret ingredient to the chocolate recipe held by the Sweet family. Daisy’s own somewhat unusual and tumultuous background is communicated and her perspective ends with the same suspicious encounter in the factory at night.
Last, but not least, Philip’s perspective is shared. The youngest son of his highly successful business father and the brother to a sibling who has perfected the art of winning through any means necessary, Philip is determined to win the candymaking competition - not only as a personal pride, but to also get back at Logan for an incident that occurred five years earlier. As the storylines converge, Philip is caught taking the secret ingredient.
Each character has their own character arc, but Philip’s is one of the most profound. Learning that much of what he believed about Logan and their interaction five years to be a lie, he becomes shaken and guilt ridden believing he is the cause for Logan’s burns over his arms and face. Philip also discovers his father’s plans to take over the candy factory owned by the Sweet’s. Determined now to win in order to help Logan’s family, Philip shares his father’s plan and his personal need to win the competition. The four ultimately work together, revealing their own personal struggles, in order to make a harmonicandy to win the competition.
As a spoiler - it is discovered that Daisy was the mysterious girl that Miles thought drowned. She was doing spy training, which is why he never saw her come back out of the water.
Noteworthy Quotes/Mentions:
Logan begins the day with a saying or poem from his mother. The first one is a quote from the Bible: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2). (20)
“Logan thought for a minute. "Well, if you enjoy life while you have it, then it doesn't matter how long you have it for. No one knows how long they get to live. It's like a deal you make when you're born, you know, to accept what happens to you."
"Is that what you do, just accept what happens?"
Logan shrugged. "I guess so. What else can you do?"
"Well, you can dwell on it and play it over in your head a hundred different ways."
Logan tilted his head. "Does that help?"
Miles sighed. "No.” (111-112)
Obviously not true, but Philip remarks in his early part of the story after Daisy asks some questions he finds ridiculous: “I knew it! My brother was right! Girls can be pretty or smart, but not both.” (269)
On page 384-385 Logan talks about his gratitude and blessings while naming his new friends at the top. Philip makes a comment that he is not deserving of blessings or thanks. Internally, Philip is blaming himself for the scars Logan has.
“The thing about leaving something behind for the last time is that you rarely realize you're doing it” (387).
It is also mentioned several times throughout the story how each of the boys believe Daisy is very pretty. Very juvenile style crushes.
While centered on the children, Henry, Max, Reggie, and Logan’s parents are positive adult and parental influences on the children throughout the story. Parents will appreciate that this story is clean, fun, and engaging for readers while also providing great themes and discussions of how we often perceive people or situations before we truly know or understand them or the context. Additionally, there are continuous messages about the importance of teamwork and the joy of working with others rather than alone to achieve great success. While not directly tied to scripture, there is much that supports Biblical truth orients readers away from pride, selfish ambition, and bitterness, while pointing them to compassion, understanding, and community.
