Children's Book Review: It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder

Title:  It's Raining Cupcakes 
Author: Lisa Schroeder 
Publisher:  Aladdin
Genre: middle grade (MG)   
Hardcover: 193 pages
ISBN: 9781416990840 
Summary:                              
Twelve-year-old Isabel is dying to get out of Oregon. She spends her free time in the library, reading and dreaming about faraway places. When her mom decides to open a cupcake shop in their little town of Willow, Isabel feels just like buttercream frosting to a cupcake - stuck.

It seems as if it will be another disappointing summer, until Isabel learns of a baking contest. If she can come up with a winning recipe, she might have a chance of competing in the bake-off in New York City!

But Isabel's best friend, Sophie, is also entering the contes, and things always seem to go Sophie's way. To make matters worse, Isabel and her mom don't exactly see eye-to-eye on the type of recipe Isabel should enter.

In this sweet treat by popular teen author Lisa Schroeder, Isabel discovers that maybe it's not about where you go in life as much as it is about enjoying the view from wherever you are.

• Overall rating: 8/10

To buy this book:  IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

Add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf
Find or request a copy of this book at your local library:  WorldCat

It's Raining Cupcakes is a delicious middle-grade book about learning to treasure the people and places closest to your heart.  It is about being happy with who you are and pursuing your dreams in spite of challenges.  One tiny warning: this book might also leave you craving yummy cupcakes!  Thankfully, there are recipes at the end of the book to keep your sweet tooth satisfied.  :)

What I Liked:

-     Isabel's voice is authentic and believable, and I quickly found myself caught up in her dreams of traveling far away from her small town life.  It is also easy to understand why she hopes to distance herself from her emotionally fragile mother.
-     The supporting characters are eccentric and entertaining.  From the joke-cracking barber to the talented artist and the very rambunctious twins, I enjoyed all of the colorful characters in Isabel's life.  
-     I liked the concept of their little independent shop striving to be successful when a big corporate bakery moves into town.  Not only is it easy to cheer for the underdog, but this book nicely illustrated exactly how and why small businesses are valuable to a community.
-     Willow is a charming small town with an old-fashioned feel to it.  Although Isabel longs to travel, her tiny hometown is actually painted in a flattering light and it is fun to see her come to appreciate her life there.
-     Isabel's friend Sophie is bright, charismatic, and overflowing with personality.  Their friendship is a perfectly captured best friend relationship complete with affection, camaraderie, and a touch of jealousy.

-      The cupcake chapter titles are cute and clever, and the baking contest is exactly the kind of thing I would have loved to read about (and enter) as a little girl.

What I Wished:

-     Isabel's mother is emotionally fragile, which is an important aspect of her character & the conflict in this book.  But the way the family tiptoes around Isabel's mom is sometimes more frustrating than her own depressed and easily-discouraged state of mind.  I don't believe fictional characters are under any obligation to be role models, but I did hope to see some of the adults in the book stop tiptoeing around Isabel's mom and begin taking responsibility for urging her toward making positive changes in a more proactive way (without Isabel's urging).


It's Raining Cupcakes is a fun middle-grade novel that can be enjoyed by kids of all ages!  I would recommend it to fans of other sweet middle-grade books like Lindsay Eland's Scones and Sensibility or Lindsey Leavitt's Princess for Hire.  Readers who enjoyed Lisa Schroeder's young adult books like I Heart You, You Haunt Me and Chasing Brooklyn may also want to check out this middle-grade novel.  It's Raining Cupcakes is much lighter in tone and subject matter than her YA verse novels, but Lisa's talent for creating characters who act and feel authentic is apparent in all of her books. To learn more about It's Raining Cupcakes, you can watch Lisa Schroeder's television interview about It's Raining Cupcakes here or visit Lisa Schroeder's:
 website | blog | twitter | facebook | YouTube.  


Candace's Book Blog is hosting "Kid's Pick Wednesday" again this week.  It's Raining Cupcakes is our "Kid's Pick."  You can check out her "Kid's Pick" & enter your own children's book selection in the comments here. 


Happy Reading!  :-)

It's Raining Cupcakes fan art by

(This floral heart painting was inspired by a scene in which Isabel finger paints.)

Contest:  We are giving away a signed copy of It's Raining Cupcakes here on The Eager Readers.  Contest ends 5/31.  :-)

Children's Book Review: The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury

Title:  The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury: Celebrated Picture Books and Stories to Read Aloud
Compiled by: Janet Schulman
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Genre: children's
Hardback: 308 pages
ISBN: 0965575187
Publisher's Summary:  
Unparalleled in scope and quality and designed for reading aloud and sharing, this splendid anthology brings together some of the most memorable and beloved children's books of our time. Here are classics such as Madeline and Curious George; contemporary bestsellers such as Guess How Much I Love You andThe Stinky Cheese Man; Caldecott Medal winners such as Make Way for Ducklings and Where the Wild Things Are; and family favorites such as Goodnight Moon, The Sneetches, and Winnie-the-Pooh. The selections range from concept books and wordless books to picture books and short read-aloud stories, and represent the complete array of childhood themes and reading needs: ABCs, number and color books, stories about going to bed and going to school; tales about growing up, siblings, parents, and grandparents; animal stories, fantasies; fables; magical stories; stories about everyday life--and more. Also included are an introduction, capsule biographies of the 62 writers and artists represented in the collection, color-coded running heads indicating age levels, and indexes. As a gift, a keepsake, and a companion in a child's first steps toward a lifelong love of reading, The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury belongs in every family's bookcase.

Overall rating: 10/10
To buy this book:  Powell's | Amazon | The Book Depository | IndieBound

Add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | LibraryThing | Visual Bookshelf

The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury is a fantastic compilation of over forty fun children's books. From William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, this book is full of timeless favorites!  We own over half of these forty-four picture books separately, but finding them combined into one very portable edition has been a delight.  Our copy of this book has been hauled along on many car rides and trips to the park, and it is a perfect resource for bedtime stories.

What I Liked:

-     It is great to find such an impressive assortment of excellent books contained within one volume!  From H.A. Rey's Curious George to Janell Cannon's Stellaluna, this book has something for everyone.  It is not a read-once-and-you're-done kind of book but a volume our children have pulled off the shelf year after year as their reading interests have grown and changed.
-     Even if you have stand-alone editions of many of these picture books, this Treasury is a worthwhile investment for it's awesome portability and the exposure to all the stories you may not own.  It is fun to find classic stories like Virginia Lee Burton's Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and Wanda Gag's Millions of Cats nestled among more recent favorites like Bill Martin, Jr. & John Archambault's Chicka Chicka, Boom Boom and Kevin Henkes's Owen.
-     Not only are the stories wonderful, but this book is also a great way for children to glimpse a wide variety of illustrative styles.  From the black & white charm of Robert McCloskey's drawings in Make Way for Ducklings to the beautiful stamp art of Leo Lionni's Swimmy and the creative collage work in Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day, this is a great book to show children a huge variety of illustrations.
-     The stories in this book are each labeled with a color-coded symbol to indicate the approximate reading level for which they may be most appropriate, but I love that they are not sorted by reading level because that allows readers to try a bit of everything as they flip through the pages & encourages beginners to give more challenging stories a try by placing them right next to simpler ones.

What I Wished:

-     I really like this book exactly as it is, but it is worth noting that in order to condense 44 books into a single 308 page volume, some of the illustrations have been reduced in size and/or combined into new page layouts.  For example, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is a forty-eight page book in its original form, but it only takes up thirteen pages of the Treasury because the page layout looks like this.  In my opinion, the illustrations are consistently presented in a way that reflects the text and is true to the original source material, but readers who expect the content to look precisely like each of the original books may be slightly disappointed .  It is important to note that the text of each book is unabridged, with the two exceptions of Roger Duvoisin's Petunia and Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia (which are slightly abridged). 

    

Whether you are looking for a great selection of classic children's picture books, trying to save on shelf space, or looking for an affordable way to add an awesome assortment of bedtime books to your collection, The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury will not disappoint.  I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a wonderful assortment of picture books or Caldecott Medal/Honor books (there are twelve in this Treasury).  I would also recommend it to anyone who is searching for a nice, comprehensive children's book to give as a gift and to anyone who is looking for a fun book to keep their kids entertained on a long car trip.  Since this book actually contains forty-four separate books, I haven't gathered all of the author/illustrator links that I typically like to share within my reviews.  But you can read lots more reviews of this book, find several places to purchase it, and find out if your local library carries it here.  

Candace's Book Blog is hosting a new "Kid's Pick Wednesday" meme (on Thursday this week).  The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury is our "Kid's Pick" this week.  If you are interested in participating, please click here to add your selection to her list of links.  

Happy Reading!  :-)

The 20th Century Children's Book Treasury (Curious George)

 fan art by 6 year old