Cupcake Diaries

The Cupcake Club gets its start in this first book of a sweet treat of a series! Katie Brown is miserable when her best friend is invited to join the Popular Girls Club and Katie is left out. Is there an Unpopular Girls Club she can join? Fortunately, Katie finds her way with a great new group of friends-Mia, Emma, and Alexis-and together they form the Cupcake Club. Sometimes starting from scratch turns out to be the icing on the cupcake!

Mia's the new girl in school-and instead of joining a clique, she's looking for a new way of finding friends. When Mia arrives at her new school, her motto is to be open and friendly with everyone. However, not everyone at Park Street School believes in mixing with different groups of friends. When the Popular Girls Club takes interest in Mia's awesome fashion style and wants to recruit her, Mia has to decide between them and her great new Cupcake Club friends. It's like choosing between her divorced mom and dad and her old house and new house. Is it always going to be Mia in the middle, or can she mix it up?

Emma's earning money left and right-but is she in over her head? When Mia asks the Cupcake Club girls to be junior bridesmaids in her mother's wedding, everyone is super excited about the idea . . . especially when they find the perfect dress for the occasion! It's Emma's dream dress, except its a little more expensive than she expected. And with her mom recently out of work, there's not a lot of room at the Taylor house for extras. Not wanting to disappoint her friends, Emma decides to take on a few more jobs and chores around the house to help cover the cost. Between babysitting her bratty brother, a dog-walking business, flute practice, the Cupcake Club-and oh yeah, being a typical tween girl-Emma may have bitten off more than she can chew. Can she handle it all?

The fourth book in Spotlight's fun and delicious tween series is told from the perspective of Alexis, the most organized member of the Cupcake Club. Alexis likes everything to be exact and logical, but she's finding that when it comes to love, there's no room for logic!

Katie's Cupcake Club friends all have other activities besides making cupcakes. Mia and Alexis are on the soccer team and Emma plays the flute. Katie sets out to find her extracurricular niche and soon she's dribbling, passing, and catching in an effort to find the right sport for her. Sure Katie can whip up a great cupcake but can she cook on the field too? When Katie tries out and makes the softball team it's batter up . . . but instead of swinging away she gets nervous during games. What if she makes a mistake? What if they lose? Is this the kind of batter Katie really wants to be dealing with? Katie starts to figure out that doing what you love always makes the batter sweeter.

Mia finds that one more in the mix is always better in this treat of a tween series! Mia is getting used to her new family now that her mom is remarried to Eddie and she's gained a new stepbrother, Dan. She's in the groove of going to her dad's house on the weekends, and everything is going pretty well at home and at school. Well, except for Spanish class. Mia's parents and stepfather speak it and she does too-but speaking it and writing it are two different things, and somehow Mia ends up in the hands of the merciless Mrs. Alvarez and almost failing Spanish class. Still, things are so good at home that Mia doesn't want to worry anyone or rock the boat. But when her parents find out-all three of them-she realizes that instead of having two parents, she's lucky enough to have three, and all three of them pitch in to help her. A baker's dozen is a bonus!

Emma needs a break from big-sister duty in this addition to Spotlight's treat of a tween series. Emma is not thrilled with always having to rearrange her schedule so she can babysit her younger brother, Jake. Now Emma's parents have broken some news that really threatens to push Emma over the edge, since Emma and Jake are going to the same day camp this summer, she's expected to sit with Jake on the bus. Not only does this mean Emma can't hang out with her friends, but she also has to comfort Jake, who has a serious issue with motion sickness. Can Emma find a way to sweeten up her summer plans?

The Cupcake Club learns that good leadership is a huge part of running a successful business-and friendship is the icing on the cake! Alexis is the clear leader of the Cupcake Club: She's organized, punctual, and happy to take on the stuff like scheduling, budgets, invoicing, and the things that the other girls don't really want to do. In other words, the "unfun" things. But one day Alexis feels particularly unappreciated and informs the Cupcake Club that she is no longer in charge! After deadlines get missed and supplies aren't bought, the girls realize they definitely need a leader... And Alexis realizes being the leader is kind of cool; as long as you know how to ask for help when you need it!

Katie finds the courage to face off with a former friend in this addition to Spotlight's sweet treat of a tween series. Katie and Callie used to be best friends-until Callie ditched Katie so she could join the Popular Girls Club. And even though Katie is now very happy with her Cupcake Club friends, Callie's mean move still bothers her. Finally, Katie finds a way to confront Callie... but it's going to take lots of sweet-talking to repair the friendship.

The Cupcake Club questions its loyalties when Mia makes friends with a mean girl in disguise. There's a new girl in town, and Mia tries to take her under her wing. But Olivia Allen is not so nice, as a matter of fact, she might be even meaner than Sydney Whitman! Mia's been saving for weeks to buy a new pair of shoes, but when Olivia asks to borrow money, Mia gives it to her-only to find out Olivia spends the cash on the exact same shoes Mia has been saving up for! Plus she makes fun of the other Cupcake girls and tells Mia she shouldn't be friends with them. Will Mia see Olivia's true colors before she wreaks havoc on the Cupcake Club?