The Cupcake Queen
4.5
250
5
1
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780142416686 |
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| Publisher: | Penguin Young Readers Group |
| Publication date: | 05/27/2010 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 592,247 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.60(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.68(d) |
| Age Range: | 12 Years |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
The Cupcake Queen
4.5 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
250 reviews.
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Penny Lane is definitely a fish out of water. She has moved to Hog's Hollow with her mother. Hog's Hollow is her mother's hometown, and they've temporarily moved in with Penny's grandmother. At least that's what her mom has told her. Penny would much rather return to New York and live with her father.
Penny's not looking forward to starting school in her new town. Before school starts, a disaster occurs at a birthday party. Her mom has opened a cupcake business in town and the father of the birthday girl caused the food table to tumble. But no one blames Mr. Wharton. All eyes are on Penny and her mom.
When Penny arrives at her new school, of course Charity, the birthday girl, is the queen of all and makes life miserable. It starts with a play on her name when she opens her locker and hundreds of pennies come tumbling out. The only bright spot in the fiasco is that she is befriended by independent Tally. But the pennies are only the first of many attempts to torture Penny.
Penny constantly wants to return to New York. Her mom isn't communicating with her, and conversations with her father are limited. Her grandma tries to get her to talk to her mom. And Penny is stuck working at the cupcake bakery. Penny is creative though, and designs amazing artwork on each of the cupcakes.
Through it all, Penny encounters a boy and his dog on the beach. Slowly, she learns about Marcus and the secrets that he's keeping. It turns out that everyone seems to have secrets deep inside. As Penny's wish to return to New York becomes reality, she comes to the realization that there's more to Hog's Hollow than she realized. Does she want to return to New York or finally make Hog's Hollow home?
Reading THE CUPCAKE QUEEN made me think of Jenny B. Jones' SO NOT HAPPENING novel. Both have the main character, a city girl, stuck in the middle of a small town. Penny is torn between her old life and the life that is being forced upon her. It takes other interesting students to make her realize what she has even in light of the hassles received from Charity and her gang.
I enjoyed reading THE CUPCAKE QUEEN quite a bit and sat down and finished it in one evening. It's one of those stories that you don't want to see end. I'd love to see more of Penny and her friends!!
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Good i really like how creative it was
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it was a good book escipally for people with problems with family and shows how thankful you should be!
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this is a great book that just made me laugh i just couldn't get enough i just sat there and read it's romantic and yummy at the same time
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I love this book so much ive done it for about 3 book reports
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Just like the sumptuous looking cupcakes on its cover, The Cupcake Queen is a deliciously satisfying novel to dig into. The teenage issues are familiar (such as divorce, grief and bullying), but Heather Hepler serves them up with a unique storyline that holds your interest and has all the ingredients of a fun, enjoyable read.
Having a major sweet tooth, I have to mention the cupcakes first. They were one of my favorite aspects of the story and I loved how they often mirrored what was going on in Penny's life. The ladybug cupcakes with the licorice antennae, the triple chocolate mudslides (which looked like real mudslides), the "horns of plenty" with the teeny fruits and the ice cream cone cupcakes were just a few of my favorites. The only drawback was that I couldn't see them and more importantly, sample any!
The town of Hog's Hollow itself and the cast of characters within it were extremely well drawn and interesting. The adults with food names (Mr. Fish, Miss Beans, and Madame Framboise) were especially humorous and added to the quirkiness of small town living. Penny's unorthodox best friends Tally and Blake were extremely likable characters to me. I have to mention that before reading this book I never knew that Rock, Paper, Scissors is something taken very seriously in certain circles. Did you know that people even compete in professional tournaments for it too? Penny's parents, on the other hand, had me consistently frustrated with the way they shut her out from what was really going on. At one point Penny says, "I'd like someone to just talk to me. I want to shout that at the back of mother's head: Just talk to me! But I don't, because maybe if no one says anything out loud, it can still change. " It was moments like this I could really feel Penny's frustration and sadness as my own.
Upon first moving to Hog's Hollow, Penny felt like no one understood what she was going through. The longer she stayed there, the more she came to realize that a lot of people did actually care about her and could empathize with her problems. I found it satisfying to watch the small town charm of Hog's Hollow work it's magic and help her to become a happier person.
The underlying message of The Cupcake Queen is that life is always going to throw out unexpected (and often unwelcome) surprises. But sometimes, when you give things a chance, it can all work out much sweeter than you ever expected. You just need to trust in yourself and follow your heart.
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This is an amazing book. If you like romance, drama, and humor, you definatly should read this book.
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This book is so good!!! My teacher gave it to me and i thought it was going to be sooooooooo boring! When i got into it my mind was blowed away! I love Penny! Anyone can read this book! My friend, Kai and Hope say they think it would be a great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
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I love this book im allmost done m on page 108 it is sooooooooooooooooooo ggood all my friends are begging for the book
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Why! Why books! WHY must you end in the middle of the sentance in the middle of a sentence of the sample!
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Penny Lane is not fitting in. She already has an enemy and she hasnt even stated school yet! She and her mom have gone to live with grandma to "take a break" from penny's dad. Not divorced yet, but if not then what are they? Penny finds refuge in a quirky girl with her hair tips died blue and cat-glasses. Tally. Tally is pennys first friend in Hogs Hollow. Together they plan on getting revenge on Charity, a bully, who, so penny thought, had no reason to be mean. With the help of Blake, Tallys friend, Tally herself, and maybe this one guy who penny cant seem to stop thinking of who runs on the beach at night with his dog Sam, Penny is truly thr cupcake qieen. Great book, by the way. I got it at my school bookfair and couldnt put it down!
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Sooo good, it kept you tuned in. I finished the book in two days. Thete was so much drama. It proves that love is powerful.
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This book was great! I couldnt put it down. It was long enough, but I finished it before getting bored of the story. Basically its about a girl who moves to hogs hollow with her mom, and they open a bakery. She meets Tally, and also Celeste, whos mean. Tally enters a contest and helps her get back at Celeste, the bully. Its totally appropriate for any age that likes this type of book. It makes me hungry!
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A book about a 14-year-old, Penny, who moves to a small town with her Mom when her parents split up. She immediately finds herself with a rival - the "queen bee" of the town, and finds it hard to make friends. Decently written, but the topic is cliche and has been done before.
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This book was great for me as a young adult. I love the message it portrays and the love it involves. It made me look at my life with more joy and happiness. It showed me that my life is good and I shouldn't complain. I love the relationships it has between mother and daughter, friend to friend and even girl and boy. This will definatly cross my eyes again when I am looking for a book to read. I recomen this book to any teenage girl who loves girly and fluffy books. It was great!
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When I finished THE CUPCAKE QUEEN by Heather Hepler, my first thought is that the cover is slightly misleading. But not in a bad way. You can look at the cover and think you'll be getting a cute, fun story but this book has a lot more substance to it. While it was an adorable quick read, it dealt with some issues that not only teenagers can relate to, but also others as well--a child's relationship with their parents. The main characters all had problem with their problems they had to deal with, such as losing a parent, separating parents, or being abandoned by one. It made the book more emotional than I was expecting, and I felt the author did a good job of letting me experience Penny's turmoil with her parents.I liked Penny's narration. She had incredibly insightful and funny things to say about her life in Hog's Hollow, such as "If someone found out they only had one day to live, they should totally move to Hog's Hollow, because here every day feels like an eternity" (56). Another of my favorite lines was "...I think about the problem with running from your trouble . The problem is in the stopping. The whole time you think you're getting away from everything, the trouble is running like mad, too, trying to catch up with you. And it doesn't slow down when you do--it keeps on sprinting. So when trouble finally reaches you, it hits you hard" (107). There are other passages in the story that I really liked but I won't give them all away.Even though I found the beginning a little slow, it picks up and becomes more intriguing. I continued to read the story because I came to care what happened to Penny, and when I closed the book, I was happy for her, which is always a great feeling to have at the end of a novel.
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I really loved the language and the artistic bent in this story. One character states something to the effect "Everyone in this town is an artist" and this proves to be true. There are characters you just love to hate (Charity and her crew), others you want to know and hug (Penny, Tally, Blake, Marcus and their respective families). The beautiful writing makes it easy to envision the small town of Hog's Hollow where Penny moves with her mother after her parent's separation. Don't read on an empty stomach: you can smell the buttercream frosting permeating the book.
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Tackling issues of separation, divorce, being the new kid at school, and teen love, Heather Hepler's novel seems to have a little bit of everything. We see the mean girl scenario play out in Penny's experiences at school, but on the other hand, we also see young love blossom before our eyes. This small little young adult novel seems to have a little bit of everything in a teen's life.Although the cover is what initially drew me to pick up this small book, the cupcakes and bakery make up a very small part of the story. Hepler draws on real-life situations that teens face to flesh out the story in the book. For instance, the first day of school scene and encounter with the school secretary are really well done. (In fact, I shared that chapter with the students in my Popular Fiction course.) The way the author depicts how Penny feels, and what she sees, are really smart. To say that Penny is uncomfortable and feeling out of place on that first day, is an understatement. Not all the scenes in the book pop out as much as that first day of school, but there are many other memorable moments that feel close to what teenagers feel and consider important. Penny worries about her family, about her position at school, and about the boy she finds herself crushing over. She isn't one of those characters that gushes, ad nauseum about how she feels about her crush, but you can sense how much she wants to be noticed. In short, you really feel for her and want her to be happy.While simple in its themes and ideas, The Cupcake Queen was a sweet, simple read. The issues hit on in the book are familiar, yet vital to most teens, and I can see many readers connecting to Penny. Overall, I found the story to be an easy read, but one I would recommend to many of my own students.
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Penny and her mom leave New York City, and her dad, to go back to her mom's hometown. How can Penny leave everything and go to a place called Hog's Hollow?Her mother opens a cupcake bakery. At their first venture, disaster happens and Penny makes a real enemy.Finding herself, bringing out her artistic talents, and making a real friend are the backbones of this story. Add some romance, very light, and it is a good read. The baking are a very slight part of the whole.Could it fit the list? Maybe
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The Cupcake Queen is a first person story about a teenage girl named Penny. When Penny and her mom move to Hog’s Hollow, they open up a cupcake shop called “The Cupcake Queen” and Penny is stuck helping out. She previously moved from New York City and her dad stayed behind. When Penny goes to school, she has a mean girl who is out to get her, Chelsea. Penny makes new friends and one of them is Tally. Tally is somewhat goth and they soon have connections with each other. Later in the story she meets a boy named Marcus, the boy who runs on the beach with his dog. Penny has a serious crush on him and they soon start to date. Then when Penny thinks that nothing will go wrong…. something does. Her mother tells Penny that her parents are seperating and thats when Penny has to make a painful decision that would change her life. She soon reveals to her mother and father tht she wants to stay in Hog’s Hollow. I would highly recommend this book because I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because it was romantic, it was first person, and it was emotional.
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This book is so amazinng . I bought it and didn't read it for like 6 monthes . I regret that now cause this is a great book . It is really interesting and I'm sure its very relatable.
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If you like bananas go to burger king res 1 and join the banana club also known ban club
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Its a must have people
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It was really good!!! I ended up reading it during class :3
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ALL MY MILKSHAKES BRING THE BOYS TO THE YARD ~~~~~
ALL MY CUPCAKES BRING THE BOYS TO THE YARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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