It failed to dazzle and wow me which is partly my fault since I'm too old to really enjoy a simple story. On a second thought, maybe I'm not. I actually like the plot in this story; it was a slow simmer but it all culminate in one tragedy. The pinnacle of this book was the cute occasional inserts of 'recipes' and 'newspaper drafts from the heroine'. However, what ruined part of the golden storytelling was the annoying 'best' friend who manages to insult, scorn, and turn her back on Comfort at the most important time. Peach was over-the-top crazy but it's understandable (kind of) and Comfort wasn't at the best of her behavior either. Either it, this story was sweet but you could probably find a similar one written by a better author with better characters to tell it. This is still a valuable contribution to children's literature and I'm glad that I read this. The cover art is absolutely beautiful and it fits the story perfectly. It's not too intricate and when it all comes down to it, it's actually simple with bright friendly colors. The gray is also very nice. Oh, I'm talking about the first edition cover, which I bought before this book won THE Award and revised it.