The trouble starts when Alice is upset about her mother, Stevie, not coming home. They love plotting out how they will bake their own fantastic creations, and their family members often enjoy helping out. Ivy has found ways to adapt to her new life, including helping out by fixing things around the apartment building with the building’s maintenance person, Donnalyn, and watching baking shows with her new friends, Alice and Lucas. The problem is that Ivy has made friends in the building, and she has no desire to go back to the life she once led where friends weren’t quite so easy to come by. Her sister and parents are dealing with the move, but they want to get back to something more normal. After all, they had to leave their house and move into a small apartment where nothing is the same as it once was.
While it’s never easy to be a pre-teen, teenager, or even an adult, Ivy can’t seem to make anyone understand why she’s so content living in Applewood Heights with her family.
‘Meant To Be’ by Jo Knowles captures the insecurities of being a kid who just wants to do the right thing, but somehow keeps messing up and feeling guilty that things aren’t turning out quite right. In an honest, hopeful companion to Where the Heart Is, Jo Knowles puts quirky, tenacious Ivy in the spotlight-as she tries to figure out exactly where she’s meant to be. Luckily, Ivy is pretty good at making up her own recipes as she goes along. Ivy has a natural talent, but she comes to realize that some things-like hurt feelings-are harder to fix than others. Ivy finds much-needed reassurance, and a boost of confidence, when she starts working with the building superintendent, who teaches her how to fix things. Then Alice receives devastating news, and Ivy somehow manages to say just the wrong thing. Her parents can’t wait to move to a bigger, nicer place, which is the last thing Ivy wants. But Ivy is a worrier, and this summer there’s plenty to be anxious about.
Lucas and Alice live close by, and every week all three watch their favorite cooking show and practice baking together (even if Ivy has to find creative substitutes for the pricey ingredients). The family’s apartment is tiny, and her older sister, Rachel, won’t stop grumbling about sharing a room after their old house was lost to foreclosure.
In a companion to Where the Heart Is, the lens turns to younger sister Ivy as she fields the joys and pitfalls of new friendship, hones her passion for baking, and resists the idea of change.
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