March 1, 2024
Grades 1-3 Emily, an elementary-school student who alternates living at her mother's home and her father's, gets along well with her kind stepmother and her supportive stepsister, Katie. When Emily's school unexpectedly closes after flooding, she must attend a different one. Though worried about finding new friends, she soon becomes part of a group that enters a cupcake-baking contest. Katie, who formed a cupcake club when she was younger (see Simon's Katie and the Cupcake Cure (2011), book one in the popular Cupcake Diaries series), helps Emily realize that she can join her friends in forming a younger cupcake club without being regarded as a copycat or a "mini Katie." Welcome to book one in the Cupcake Diaries: The New Batch series, which tells of Emily's experiences at school, in her two households, and with her new friends. Simon's appealing story is smoothly written and engaging. The use of lively black-and-white illustrations throughout the book makes this an appealing choice for kids who are comfortable with beginning-reader books but not quite ready for pages of solid type.
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