Dinner at the Brake Fast

By: Renee Beauregard Lute

Narrated by: Tara Sands

Dinner at the Brake Fast is a hilarious and heartfelt story about road-trip mishaps, a murderous rooster, facing down anxieties, and unexpected friendship that is a must-pick for readers who loved The Science of Unbreakable Things and The First Rule of Punk.

Tacoma Jones loves working at her family’s roadside diner, the Brake Fast, pouring coffee and serving eggs and muffins to truckers all day long. But tonight, she is finally going to break out her collection of cookbooks and prepare the best dinner the state of Washington has ever seen.

But her excitement is dampened when she learns that today is one of Dad’s bad days, when his depression makes it hard for him to get out of bed.

Tacoma knows she can’t fix her dad’s depression. But what she can do is steal back his prized photograph of his second-best day from her nemesis, the nasty Crocodile Kyle—while also planning a dinner that is sure to brighten up his bad day.

She just might need an accomplice or two to pull off the heist. . . .

Wonderful, insightful middle grade

I greatly appreciated this middle grade novel about learning to manage one’s own anxieties while having a parent facing depression. I look forward to sequels. I hope future books will also include a list of mental health resources including the 988 Suicide and Crisis lifeline. call or text 988 https://988lifeline.org/

Great Story, very relatable

This is a beautiful story that sheds light on real mental health struggles in a way that you can feel. I couldn’t put the book down. I work with middle school students and plan on buying copies for our school library. I can’t wait to find out what Tacoma will be doing in the next.