Recipe for Trouble (13 page)

Thanks so much to everyone who has cheered us on with cupcakes and kindness!

Our loving family: the Kahns, Berks, and Saperstones. A special shout-out to Aunt Debbie Kahn: like Lexi, you're a true artist (and we love you!).

Our
amazing
recipe developer, Jessi Walter of Taste Buds. A spaghetti and meatball cupcake? No problem!

The dedicated staff of PS 6, especially Ms. Fein and Ms. Levenherz for all your help with Book Two! Thank you for the Shakespeare crash course! Hugs and sprinkles to Ms. Fontana (aka Principal Fontina), Ms. Nuñez, Ms. Underwood, Ms. Hoffman, Ms. Cordeira, Coach Rick, and all of Carrie's fellow peer mediators.

Carrie's brilliant teachers at Ballet Academy East: Elizabeth, Olga, Darla, Cynthia, Joseph, Ari, Anne; plus Julia Dubno, all the 2012 Level 2-ers, and the gang at Dances Patrelle. You all inspire Carrie with your grace and strength! The
Romeo
and
Juliet
ballet chapter is for you guys!

Carrie's best gal pals: Darby Dutter, Jaimie Ludwig, Abby Johnson, Ava Nobandegani, Sadie and Lila Goldstein, Liyah Lopez, and Delaney Hannon. The boys deserve a big thank-you too: David Ruff (the most hilarious person I know!) and Kyle Rothstein (so glad we met in kindergarten!).

Sheryl's supporting cast: Holly Russell, Kathy Passero, Stacy Polsky, Pam Kaplan, Michele Alfano, Debbie Skolnik. Ladies, I don't know what I'd do without you all!

The cupcake experts who have been so supportive of Carrie's Cupcake Critique: Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne of
DC Cupcakes
; Cake Boss Buddy Valastro; and Rachel and Nichelle of
Cupcakes Take the Cake
blogspot.

The folks at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky—we couldn't ask for a better team to work with! Steve Geck, Derry Wilkens, Leah Hultenschmidt, Aubrey Poole, Kelly Barrales-Saylor, and Kristin Zelazko.

Illustrator extraordinaire Julia Denos, for bringing the PLC characters to life on every cover. We dream it, you draw it!

Our agents at the Literary Group: Frank Weimann, Katherine Latshaw, and Elyse Tanzillo.

Photo by Heidi Green

New
York
Times
bestselling co-author of
Soul
Surfer
, Sheryl Berk was the founding editor-in-chief of
Life
& Style Weekly
as well as a contributor to
InStyle
,
Martha
Stewart
, and other publications. She has written dozens of books with celebrities including Britney Spears, Tia Mowry, Whitney Port, and JWOWW. Her nine-year-old daughter, Carrie Berk, a cupcake connoisseur and blogger, cooked up the idea for the PLC series in second grade. Together, they have invented dozens of crazy cupcakes recipes in their NYC kitchen (can you say “Purple Velvet”?) and have the frosting stains on the ceiling to prove it. They love writing together and have many more adventures in store for the PLC girls!

You can visit Carrie at
www.carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com
,
www.facebook.com/PLCCupcakeClub
, or
pinterest.com/cbcupcakecritic
, or follow her on Twitter @CBCupcakeCritic.

We want to hear from you! Email [email protected].