At some point in each of the novel’s 15 chapters, Primrose refers to an item of food, such as boiled potatoes, shepherd’s pie, or pear soup, and follows the mention of that item with the parenthetical phrase: “recipe to follow” (1). At the end of the chapter, she offers a recipe to prepare the mentioned food. In A Year in Coal Harbor, Horvath’s sequel to this novel, the author uses the same literary device, making these two mid-grade books quasi-cookbooks as well.

The recipes, which Primrose gathers from different sources, tend to be casually stated rather than exacting. For example, Primrose offers Aunt Tilly’s recipe for lemon sugar cookies and, when discussing the bake time, offers: “She didn’t say how long but probably until slightly brown. That will usually do it” (30). The lack of specific information about the recipes conveys the mindset of an 11-year-old and also the cooking attitude of her mentor, Miss Bowzer, who improvises continually in the kitchen, sometimes devising recipes when Primrose expresses curiosity about how to prepare a dish.

Horvath uses these recipes as an opportunity for Primrose to make editorial comments. When she shares the recipe for Miss Perfidy’s tea biscuits, she concludes with, “Then age for ten days in a drawer full of mothballs.