198. The Cupcake Diaries : Katie, Batter Up by Coco Simon

The Cupcake Diaries : Katie, Batter Up by Coco Simon
Published July 2012 Simon & Schuster


From the publisher:
Katie's Cupcake Club friends all have other activities besides making cupcakes. Mia and Alexis are on the football 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.

I got a bit confused when I read this book, as I though it was a US publication.  A few pages in they refer to money in pounds, not dollars and football not soccer.  I have a look at the publication details and lo and behold it is from the US, this is just a UK edition.  I am not sure I have come across such changes before; it fell apart a bit later in the book where they talk about Manhattan though, so obviously not everything American was changed.

There have been a number of books in this series, and this is the first one I have read.  It’s another good example of a series that doesn’t have to be read in a particular order.  The books focus on four friends, who are all different, but the one thing they do share is their passion for cupcakes.  So much so that they have their own cupcake business.  Each book is based around one particular girl, and whatever issue she is struggling with at the time.  

This book is about Katie, who has no real skills or hobbies other than making really good cupcakes.  While all of her other friends are out there playing on sporting teams, or playing instruments, Katie thinks about cupcakes.

So she decides that she will find herself a sporting pastime, the only problem is the fact that she is not particularly coordinated and because of this is not a fan of sporting activities.  Until the day she  catches a soft ball, and when she throws it back, she realises that was something she was good at…she can throw and catch, but how will she go actually hitting the ball?

For a simple girly book, there is also a lesson to be learned.  In life we need to do things that make us happy and that we enjoy, especially where hobbies and leisure time are concerned. If we find ourselves doing something that doesn't make us happy, and that we don't enjoy, then we need to question why we are doing it, and whether or not we need to continue doing it.

Who will like this book: Girls 8+
Read it if you like: Go Girls series