Sweet Victory (The
Cupcake Club)
By New York Times
Bestselling Author Sheryl Berk and Carrie Berk
October 6, 2015; TP
ISBN 9781492620822
Title: Sweet Victory (The
Cupcake Club)
Author: Sheryl Berk and
Carrie Berk
Volume Number: 8
Release Date; October 6,
2015
Publisher:
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Praise for the Cupcake Club Series
“9-year-old
author has recipe for success.” – The Washington Post, KidsPost
"Kids and cupcakes are the perfect
recipe!"—Sophie and Katerine, stars of TLC's DC Cupcakes
“Sheryl Berk and her nine-year-old daughter, Carrie, have
cooked up a delightful new series sure to be a treat.” –New York Family
Summary:
The eighth
book in a delicious series by New York
Times bestselling author Sheryl Berk and her cupcake-obsessed daughter,
Carrie.
MVP Sadie
knows what it takes to win- both on the court and in the kitchen.
But when
Coach Walsh gets sick and has to temporarily leave school, Sadie’s suddenly at
a loss. What will she do without Coach’s spot-on advice and uplifting
encouragement? Luckily, Sadie’s got Peace, Love, and Cupcakes on her side. Her
friends know what the power of friendship-and cupcakes- might be just what
Sadie needs! Together, they rally to whip up the largest batch of sweet treats
they’ve ever made, all to help support Coach Walsh. When the going gets tough,
a little PLC goes a long way. But this record-breaking order might just be too
much for the club…
Can the
girls put it all together in time to score a win for Sadie- and Coach Walsh
Goodreads Link:
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About the Authors:
Sheryl Berk,
New York Times bestselling coauthor of Soul Surfer, and her daughter Carrie, a
cupcake connoisseur who has reviewed confection from around the world in her Carrie’s
Cupcake Critiques newsletter, have cooked up a delightful series sure to be a
treat.
Social Networking Links:
Excerpt from Sweet Victory (The
Cupcake Club)
For a few minutes, the room was
silent as the girls thought hard. “Feet!”
Lexi suddenly tossed out. “Or maybe socks? Isn’t that what you wear to jump on
a trampoline?” “Flies,”
Sadie added. “They’re always in the air. And little boys love bugs, right?” “Falling,”
Jenna grumped. “As in splat on your face or butt. Which is what I would do on a
trampoline.” “Um,
I’m not seeing any of those things on a cupcake,” Kylie tried her hardest to
envision their suggestions, but all she could see was Jenna flopping on a
trampoline face-first. As cupcake club president, Kylie had the power to veto
an idea-and smelly feet and flies didn’t sound particularly appetizing. “What
about balloons-balloons go up, up, and
away if you accidentally let them go,” Delaney suggested. “And
they’re pretty and colorful-and every birthday party has them.” “That’s
just it,” Sadie jumped in. “Cupcakes with balloons on them are so ordinary.
We’re PLC. We can do better than that.” “Lexi
too out her sketchbook. Designing cupcake decorations was her job. “Sadie’s
right. What if we did something like this…” She drew a cupcake with blue piping
around the edges and a black fondant top to represent the trampoline. In the
middle of the cupcake was a small figure of a boy bending his knees with his
arms in the air. “Ooh, that is
amazing ,” Kylie said, watching as Lexi used her colored pencils to bring the
cupcake to life on the page. “We could use fondant to mold the little jumping
guys.” “And
no boring vanilla or chocolate flavors either,” Jenna insisted. As the official
taste tester, it was her job to make each cupcake delectable. “I’m thinking
chocolate-chocolate chip cake filled with marshmallow and churro cupcakes with
a hint of cinnamon to give the vanilla a kick.” “Nice.”
Sadie high-fived her. “Do you suppose we’ll get to try out those trampolines
when we make the delivery?” “Tu major que yo- better you than me!”
Jenna said. “I get motion sickness if my little brothers bounce on the couch.” “Then
I’d say we have a plan,” Kylie said, taking notes in her binder. “Let’s get
jumpin’ on those cupcake recipes.”
Fashion Academy
July 7, 2015; TP ISBN97814926016233
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Summary:
Fashion-forward
MacKenzie “Mickey” Williams is thrilled to be accepted to FAB Middle School
(Fashion Academy of Brooklyn), a school that serves as a training ground for
the fashion designers of tomorrow. (Their motto: “We are SEW FAB”). But when
her daring fashion looks get laughed at by some of the FAB A-listers, Mickey
wonders whether standing out is such a great idea. So when friendly classmate
JC comes up with a plan to help Mickey fit in, she decides to take the ultimate
fashion risk-ditch her personal style for good.
One mega
makeover later, pink-haired Mickey Williams mysteriously disappears, and the
trendy, blond “Kenzie Williams” shows up on the FAB scene, blending with the
other students in a way Mickey never could. But when Mickey starts to lose
herself “Kenzie,” she’s not sure that fitting in is worth cutting herself down
to size…
Goodreads Link:
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Runway Ready (Fashion Academy)
January 5, 2016; TP 9781492604365
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Summary:
Project Runway meets Fame in
a trendy new series from the authors of The Cupcake Club
1. Balloons
2. Spaghetti
3. Rainbows
If you were to ask Mickey
Williams, these would not be her top points of inspiration for designing a
party dress. But in fashion, the client is always right…and Mickey’s client
happens to be fashion legend Victoria Vanderweil’s five-year-old granddaughter.
Even though it’s the toughest assignment
Mickey’s gotten during her time at the Fashion Academy of Brooklyn, she can’t pass
up the opportunity to impress a top designer like Victoria.
But when Cordy turns out to
be a tiny terror with non-stop demands, the assignment goes from hard to
impossible. Not only that, but Victoria wants Mickey to babysit Cordy during
NYC Fashion Week! Can Mickey pull off her project and pass, or will it fall
apart at the seams?
Goodreads Link:
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon- http://ow.ly/SiwCt
Barnes&Noble- http://ow.ly/SiwwT
BooksAMillion- http://ow.ly/Siwmi
!ndigo- http://ow.ly/Siwas
IndieBound- http://ow.ly/Siw3E
Social Media Links:
Excerpt from Fashion Academy Sheryl Berk & Carrie
Berk:
After spending
the weekend with her aunt, Mickey concluded that Olive wasn’t that bad—at least
not as bad as her mom made her out to be. She was just a bit uptight. It was
hard for Mickey to understand how she and her mom could be sisters, much less fraternal
twins. They had the same curly strawberry blond hair, though her mom
highlighted hers and wore it long and loose and Olive pinned hers back in a
tight bun. She recognized her aunt’s eyes as well—they were emerald green, just
like her mom’s. Too bad she hid them behind thick tortoise shell glasses. Then
there was her style: Olive looked like she had stepped out of a time warp. She
wore a ruffled pink blouse, long pearls, and an A-line brown skirt. Maybe she
was going for a retro 50s vibe? It was the opposite of her mom’s ripped jeans
and vintage rock tee shirts. Maybe there had been some mistake and they were
switched at birth? Maybe her Granny Gertrude got confused and accidentally
picked up the wrong baby in the park one day?
Olive was also
a neat freak who insisted that everything be “spic and span” and in its place.
“Mackenzie,
clean up after yourself!” she scolded when Mickey left her sketchbook and
colored pencils on the kitchen table. No one called her Mackenzie; her mom only
used it when she was mad at her. It was a name she barely recognized or
answered to. But as many times as she corrected Aunt Olive, she insisted on
calling her by her “proper name.”
“Mom calls me
‘Mickey’ and I call her Jordana sometimes,” she tried to explain.
“I don’t care
what you call your mom or she calls you. And you call me Aunt Olive out of
respect,” she warned her.
Mickey
wrinkled her nose. “Really? Mom says she called you Olliegator when you were
little. I think that’s cute.”
Olive pursed
her lips. “I’m an adult,” she replied sternly. Aunt Olive was an executive
assistant at a big law firm, and she took everything very seriously. “Your
mother needs to grow up.”
But that was
exactly what Mickey loved about her mom—how she was such a free spirit and
never cared what anyone thought or said about her. Mickey tried her hardest to
be that way, but sometimes it was hard.
For the first
day of FAB, she set her alarm for 6 o’clock so she would have time to style her
outfit properly. She was proud of how it had all come together. She’d taken a
beaten-up denim jacket from a thrift shop and dyed it black before adding
crocheted doilies for trim at the collars and cuffs. It said exactly what she
wanted it to say about her: “I’m edgy but feminine.” And wasn’t that what
fashion was all about? Not just a trend or a style, but a reflection of who you
are and how you’re feeling? That was what Mickey loved about designing the
most, and what she had written on her FAB application:
“I love how
you can speak volumes with a single stitch. Fashion should be fearless! I want
to be a designer who always colors outside the lines and thinks outside of the
box…”
She was pretty
sure Aunt Olive didn’t see it that way. Her idea of taking a fashion risk was
wearing a skirt that was hemmed above the knee.
“Does it
really go together?” she asked, noticing how Mickey had paired her jacket with
a white tank top and bike shorts, both of which were splatter-painted with
green and yellow drips.
“It isn’t
supposed to go,” Mickey told her. “It’s supposed look creative, which is what
FAB is all about. Pushing the envelope!”
She added a
pair of green cat’s eye sunglasses.
“Well, it’s
colorful,” her aunt sighed. “I’ll give you that. And so is your hair. Good
heavens!”
Mickey had
created green stripes in her long, wavy blond hair with hair chalk.
“Now for the
finishing touch!” she said. “No outfit is complete without accessories!” She
slipped her feet into a pair of black high top sneakers, tied the yellow laces,
and grabbed her bag.
“What is
that?” her aunt asked, scratching her head. She squinted to make out the words
on Mickey’s tote.
“It used to
say ‘Louis Vuitton’—it’s a bag you keep a really fancy expensive bag in. Which
if you ask me, is pretty silly,” Mickey explained.
Olive seemed
puzzled. “You mean a dust bag? You made that out of a dust bag?”
Mickey spun
the tote around. “Two of them, actually!” The other side read, “PRADA.”
“What? How?
Why?” Olive asked.
“Well, it’s
perfectly good flannel,” Mickey replied. “And don’t you think it’s kinda funny?
A statement about recycling? I used two leather belts for the straps and jazzed
it up with some studding at the seams. It cost me about $4 total at the flea
market!”
She threw the
bag over her shoulder and glanced at the clock. It was 8, and the school bus
would be along shortly to pick her up on the corner.
“Your
breakfast is ready,” Olive said, handing her a glass of green sludge. This was
worse then yesterday’s quinoa and fruit concoction! She missed her mom’s
breakfasts of left over Chinese Take Out omelets or cold pizza. But Aunt Olive
insisted she start the first day of school with “something healthy and
nutritious.”
“Do you have
any chocolate milk?” she asked, getting up to check the fridge for something
edible.
“This is
better for you. It’s fresh kale, celery, cucumber, ginger and a touch of agave.
It’s delicious.” She took a big sip of her own glass and licked her lips.
Mickey
wrinkled her nose. It didn’t look or smell delicious. “I think I’ll grab
something in the cafeteria,” she said, pushing the glass away. “I’m too nervous
to eat.”
It wasn’t
entirely a lie. She was pretty terrified for her first day at FAB. Just then,
Mickey’s phone rang.
“All ready to
conquer the world?” her mom asked.
“I think so,
Jordana,” she replied.
“Ah, I see.
We’re trying to sound very mature this morning. Send me a picture of the first
day outfit and call me tonight. I want to hear all the deets.”
Mickey smiled.
Her mom was trying to sound cool. “I will. Love you.”
As the bus
pulled up to the corner of Columbus Avenue, Mickey took a deep breath. This
wasn’t just the first day of FAB. It was the first day of the rest of her life.
The first day of everything.