A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Author	T. Kingfisher
Publisher	Argyll Productions
Publication date	July 21, 2020
ISBN	978-1-614-50524-2

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking is a 2020 young adult fantasy novel by Ursula Vernon, under her pseudonym T. Kingfisher. It was first published by Argyll Productions.

Synopsis

When teenage bread wizard Mona discovers a corpse in her aunt's bakery, it triggers a chain of events. With the aid of animate gingerbread men, her familiar — a sourdough starter named Bob, and a few friends - they fight the Spring Green Man, Inquisitor Oberon and lead the city in the fight againts the Scriveners.

Reception and awards

James Nicoll called A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking "an entertaining YA diversion that will encourage younger readers to consider just how easily they might be scapegoated by an ambitious politician," and emphasized that he would "enjoy" reading a sequel. ^[1] Locus commended Vernon's "ability to craft engagingly quirky characters", and her portrayal of "a Pratchettian world where magic makes for a mostly amusing background, except when it doesn't." ^[2]

In 2020, Locus named A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking among the best young adult novels of the year. ^[3]

Awards and honors

Year	Award	Result	Ref.
2020	Andre Norton Award	Won	[4]
2021	Dragon Award for Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel	Won	[5]
	Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book	Won	[6]
	Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book	Won	[7]
	Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature	Won	[8]

References

1. Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can Archived September 27, 2022, at the Wayback Machine , by James Nicoll, at James Nicoll Reviews; published September 14, 2020; retrieved September 15, 2022
2. Adrienne Martini Reviews Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air by Jackson Ford and A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher Archived August 10, 2024, at the Wayback Machine , by Adrienne Martini, in Locus ; October 2020 issue; published online November 3, 2020; retrieved September 15, 2022
3. "2020 Locus Recommended Reading List". Locus Online . February 1, 2021. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2024.
4. "2020 Nebula Awards Winners". Locus. June 5, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
5. "2021 Dragon Awards Winners". Locus. September 7, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
6. "2021 Locus Awards Winners". Locus. June 26, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
7. "2021 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners". Locus. December 18, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
8. "2021 Mythopoeic Awards Winners". Locus. October 19, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2025.