An AJL Holiday Highlights book!

Peer pressure, popularity, and baking a proper cheesecake-Saralee Siegel has a lot on her mind in this sixth book of the popular series.

When Saralee isn’t invited to a classmate’s birthday party, she devises a plan to use her smell powers to boost her popularity at school. However, the plan backfires horribly, embarrassing her best friend, Harold. How can Saralee make it right? On the eve of Shavuot, Saralee uses the power of stories, her new smell-a-vision ability, and her signature Shavuot cheesecake to apologize to Harold.

Prizes

Winner of Spring Holiday Highlights 2026 (United States)

Elana Rubinstein is the author of the Saralee Siegal chapter book series, including Once Upon an Apple Cake, A National Jewish Book Award Finalist; Starlight Soup; A Donut in Time; The Royal Recipe; and The Secret of the Scent Map. She is an early childhood educator living in Fairfax, Virginia. Jennifer Naalchigar is a British-Japanese illustrator. After working as an Art Buyer for Oxford University Press, she decided that illustration was the career for her. Jen’s client list includes HarperCollins, Hachette, Oxford University Press, Pearson, Random House Children’s Books, Reycraft books and Scholastic. She lives in Hertfordshire, England.