Top Chef (Miles Lewis #6)

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Author(s)

Kelly Starling Lyons

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Wayne Spencer

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

November 04, 2025

ISBN

978-0593752760

Buy This Book

From the award-winning author of the Jada Jones chapter books comes an illustrated spin-off series perfect for STEM fans!

When Miles and his friend RJ team up for their school's bake sale, they embark on a journey filled with sweet treats, friendship, and a dash of science. Miles is confident that Nana's famous tea cakes will win the prize, but he's feeling the pressure from RJ, who wants to win the prize money to replace his mom's treasured keepsake that he accidentally broke. Through baking mishaps and heartfelt moments, they discover that the true recipe for success lies in honesty, teamwork, and adding a special ingredient—love.

Editor review

1 review

The Science of Baking

October 10, 2025 (Updated: June 07, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Miles' school is having a Flavors of Brookside contest with hundred dollar prizes for both a writing and baking contest. While Miles' friend, RJ, wants to win because he needs the money to replace a keepsake box of his mother's that was broken, Miles just wants to showcase his baking skills. He hopes to make his Nana's famous tea cakes, and asks for her help. He and RJ make an attempt, but don't measure things too accurately, and the cakes are not what they want! After a class on the science of baking, the two understand a little better how important it is to be precise with measurements, and they have more success. While Miles is working on his baking, his Nana is putting together a quilt to celebrate family, with garments from different relatives. This helps RJ understand the value of keepsakes, and he talks to his mother about the broken box. His mother is understanding, which is good, since the boys don't win either contest, but do learn valuable lessons.

Good Points

These short chapter books have so many good lessons not only about science and history (Miles' father is a professor of history), but about life skills. Miles wants to do what is right, but sometimes gets carried away. This is perfectly in tune with the average early elementary school readers, who might want to do something impressive, like win a baking contest, but goes about it in an unskilled way. I love that Miles has lots of family support.

Nana is a great character, and I wish that more books had active grandparents with interests that they share with their grandchildren. As a quilter, I had some questions about Nana's quilt and would have loved to see a picture of the final product; I'm not sure that old t shirts and dress shirts could be hand stitched together into a pleasing and useful quilt, but that may just be me. The book states that the tea cake recipe is in the Miles Lewis section of the author's website.

Spencer's two color illustrations add another level of interest to the story, so young readers will enjoy seeing Miles and RJ's antics.

As a parent who has over 50 of the Animorphs series in my attic, I know how important series fiction is to young readers. Familiarity with characters leads to a desire to find out more about them, which encourages more reading. Introduce fans of Khan's Zayd Saleem, Harley's Charlie Bumpers, and McDonald's Stink series to Miles Lewis and his science related adventures.