Bloom by Kevin Panetta, illus. by Savanna Ganucheau

Now that high school is over, Ari is dying to move to the big city with his ultra-hip band—if he can just persuade his dad to let him quit his job at their struggling family bakery. Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easygoing guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it. As they become closer over batches of bread, love is ready to bloom . . . that is, if Ari doesn’t ruin everything.

Writer Kevin Panetta and artist Savanna Ganucheau concoct a delicious recipe of intricately illustrated baking scenes and blushing young love, in which the choices we make can have terrible consequences, but the people who love us can help us grow.
 
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"This is the best kind of romantic tale: innocent and unfussy, yet overwhelming. Author Panetta’s story is baked to perfection: a crush that turns to infatuation—and later love—in the confines of a professional kitchen bristling with hot stoves, stuffed shelves, and perfectly shaped spanakopita." — Los Angeles Review of Books

"Panetta and Ganucheau's graphic novel debut is as much a love story between people as it is with the act of baking. Ganucheau's art, in black ink with varying shades of blue, mixes traditional paneling with beautiful double-page spreads of detailed baking scenes, where the panels sometimes take on the shape of braided loaves...A tender blend of sugary, buttery, and other complex flavors that's baked with a tremendous dash of heart."— Kirkus, starred review