PINK CUPCAKE MAGIC

Princess Zoe gets sweet revenge on her thieving brother with a special batch of magical cupcakes.  

Zoe loves to make cupcakes, but whenever she whips up a batch, her pesky brother, Ralph, and his friends eat them all up. Zoe also loves princesses, but pretending to be one just isn’t satisfying enough, so she decides to bake a wish right into her next batch of pink cupcakes. Her wish—to be a princess—is granted, and she spends a lovely day in her magical kingdom, granting, in turn, the wishes of her furry subjects for shoes and coats. This meandering and disjointed storyline is only partly rescued by the funny exercise of harmless sibling revenge that draws the tale to a close: When Zoe discovers that Ralph has once again stolen her precious pink cupcakes, she hatches a plan to bake some magical green ones for him and his friends that will turn the lot of them into frogs for a day. The illustrations, in acrylic on watercolor paper, lend a feistiness to redheaded Zoe and a sparkly sheen to her fluffy, pink confections. The right ingredients—cute cupcakes, a dash of magic, one determined princess and plenty of pink—are all accounted for, but this recipe still falls flat. (cupcake recipe) (Picture book. 3-6)