Stink Alley — Jamie Gilson

The year is 1614. Recently orphaned Lizzy Tinker has lived half of her twelve years in Holland, but she does not feel at home there. Lizzy belongs to a small congregation of religious refugees who have fled England in order to worship as they choose. The Dutch people enjoy a free and easy lifestyle that Master William Brewster constantly admonishes his austere English Pilgrims to resist. Many find this difficult, including Lizzy. Although the Brewsters took her in when her father died, she doesn't feel at home with them either. Her undisciplined tongue always seems to get her in trouble. What is more, Lizzy has a talent for cooking, and she loves making sinfully delicious Dutch cookies and cakes. Her kitchen craft has landed her a job cooking for a Dutch family whose precocious eight-year-old son has a stubborn nature, artistic talent, and nose for trouble even greater than Lizzy's own. Heaven help her now!

With meticulous research and great imagination, Jamie Gilson has created an authentic, entertaining story that brings to life seventeenth- century Holland and the unique culture that fostered both the Mayflower Pilgrims and master painters such as Rembrandt.