Mass’ style allows readers to truly understand what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes, and the story of friendship that results from the layered stories is all the more moving for knowing the individual perspectives. Even though the story is re-told four times, it never gets old because each candymaker fills in the gaps of the previous candymakers’ points of view. Mass has created a cast of strong characters, from the four main children to the adults that surround them.

Then, of course, there is the night that they all catch each other trying to steal the factory’s secret ingredient.The Candymakers is an engaging story that is one part mystery, and what part sweet and whimsical. Some things just don’t add up: Logan has mysterious scars, Daisy can lift more weight than most grown men, Miles speaks in his own language, and Philip is always dressed in a suit and jotting things down in a mysterious notebook. Each of the contestants has a strange quirk, and as the story is told over again from each of their perspectives, it soon becomes obvious that not all of them are there just to make candy. But of course, the other three contestants in Wendy Mass’s The Candymakers are hoping to win the contest too. As the current candymaker’s son, he’s familiar with every wonder filled aspect of the factory, and is hoping to win the contest and prove himself.

When it’s time for the annual candy making contest, Logan can’t wait to open the doors of the Life is Sweet candy factory to his fellow contestants.

The candymakers by wendy mass