Ellie’s Deli Books in Order

The Ellie’s Deli books center on eleven-year-old Ellie and the family deli that everyone in town knows by her name. Officially it is Lukshen Deli, but in practice it is Ellie’s Deli, a place tied to four generations of family history, familiar customers, Jewish deli food, and the feeling that some businesses are really community anchors. For Ellie, the deli is not just where her family works. It is part of who they are.

You can almost smell the soup.

That strong sense of place is what makes the series click. In Wishing on Matzo Ball Soup!, Ellie overhears that the deli may be forced to close when a restaurant group threatens to move in and take over. Her response is pure Lisa Greenwald, part determination, part anxiety, part big-hearted kid logic. Ellie makes a wish on matzo ball soup and then starts trying to save the place for real. Along the way, the book pulls in her best friend Ava, her sisters Anna and Mabel, her lunch-table crew, and her grandparents, Bubbie and Zeyda.

The deli setting gives these books a cozy rhythm, but the stakes are real. Ellie is dealing with business problems, family pressure, and the challenge of helping something old survive in a changing world. At the same time, the series never loses its kid perspective. Ellie is feisty, funny, and not always calm. She loves hard, worries hard, and throws herself into plans with the absolute confidence of someone who has not yet learned to scale back.

In In a Pickle!, that same energy gets pointed in a new direction. When Charlie’s Bat Mitzvah venue falls through, Ellie decides party planning might be her calling. Suddenly she is juggling school, friendship changes, grades, and the renovation of the deli attic into an event space. The series broadens a little, but it still stays rooted in food, family, and the idea that a kid can make herself useful in a grown-up world without losing her child-sized perspective.

These books also have a welcoming texture because they include recipes and illustrations. That makes the world feel even more lived in. Food is never just decoration here. It carries memory, culture, comfort, and stubbornness.

If you like middle grade stories about family businesses, friendships, and kids with big plans, Ellie’s Deli is warm, lively, and easy to recommend. It is a series about holding onto what matters, while still being willing to change the menu a little.