Sprinkles and Secrets

by Lisa Schroeder

I look at it closely and see it’s a chocolate-dipped fortune cookie with sprinkles on the outside. And it isn’t broken. It’s really pretty. Almost too pretty to eat.

  “A fortune cookie?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” he says. “My way of saying congratulations on the commercial. Open it!”

  I take off the plastic wrap, and break the cookie open to read the fortune.

  It says: “In the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible.”—From Bridge to Terabithia (Remember—everything is possible!)

  Aw. What a sweet guy!

  “Thanks, Dennis. I love it.” I hand him a piece of the cookie, and we eat as we walk to class. When we get there, he stops just outside the doorway.

  “I almost forgot to tell you,” he says. “I got the best camera for Christmas. My mom said a little elf helped her pick it out. Do you know anything about that?”

  I try to look shocked. “No! Why would you think that?”

  He smiles. “I don’t know. Just a guess. Hey, Austen and I are going to enter a photography contest. Grand prize is five hundred bucks! What do you think? You in?”

  I laugh. “No, thanks. No more contests for me for a while.”

  “Okay, well, maybe you can help me with mine.”

  “As long as it doesn’t involve dead birds or gutted fish, I’ll help you.”

  And then, he leans in a little bit. “Sophie, do you know how I said one time I wished you were a boy?”

  “Yes.”

  “I just want you to know, I think I’ve changed my mind on that.”

  As I walk to my desk I feel my heart beating really hard. Almost as hard as the moment I found out Mom was taking me to see Wicked.

  Does this mean I like Dennis Holt almost as much as I like musicals?

  Oh. My. Gosh.

  I think it does!

  Chocolate Jam Tarts

  2 2/3 cups flour

  1 cup butter, chilled

  1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

  4 tablespoons sugar

  1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  1 egg yolk

  1/3 cup ice-cold water

  1/2 cup strawberry jam

  Preheat oven to 400° Blend flour and butter together using butter knives and/or a pastry blender until butter is marble size. Stir in cocoa. Make a well and add the sugar, baking powder, egg yolk, and water. Quickly combine all ingredients. Use hands to knead the dough into a ball, then place on a floured surface and roll to 1/4-inch thickness.

  Using a butter knife, cut into 3-inch squares. Put a tablespoonful of jam in the center of each square, fold into a triangle, and crimp the edges together.

  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes and sift powdered sugar over the top of the tarts.

  Monster Cookies

  1 cup brown sugar

  1 cup granulated sugar

  1/2 cup butter or margarine

  1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

  3 eggs

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  1 tablespoon Karo syrup

  4 1/2 cups rolled oats

  ½ cup flour

  2 teaspoons baking soda

  I cup M&M’s

  1 cup chocolate chips

  With a mixer, beat together sugars, butter, and peanut butter. Add the eggs, vanilla, and Karo syrup, and mix well. Gradually add in the rolled oats, flour, and baking soda, and mix until well blended. Stir in the M&M’s and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours (can even be overnight) to help cookies mound up better. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°, and use a teaspoon to drop onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake about 12, minutes, until a light golden brown.

  acknowledgments

  First and foremost I have to thank all of the kids who wrote to me, letting me know how much they enjoyed the book It’s Raining Cupcakes. It’s because of you that I decided to write another book about Isabel and Sophie. I hope you find this book just as sweet!

  Deena Lipomi, you helped me come up with the premise, so I’m not sure this book would exist without you! Thanks also to Kate, Emily, and Tina for helping to brainstorm ideas.

  Lindsey and Lisa, you thought long and hard on titles, so I have to say thanks for that. Triple Ls, always and forever.

  I want to send a big thank-you out to Allie Costa and Amanda Morgan, who answered my questions about commercial auditions and provided valuable feedback on an important part of the book.

  Thank you to my editor, Alyson, and all of the fine people at Aladdin who helped bake this book into something that’s not only pretty to look at but also delicious to read.

  Thanks, as always, to my agent, Sara.

  Thank you, Katherine Paterson, for writing Bridge to Terabithia, one of the greatest books of all time.

  When I needed to brainstorm funny things boys would say, I turned to my husband, Scott, who is an expert at being funny. I like funny boys, and I’m glad I’m married to one.

  My kids have to put up with many dinner conversations that start out, “I need some help with . . .” Thanks, boys, for not only putting up with me but also for being the best kids a mom could ask for. I want to say something really mushy, but I’ll refrain. You’re welcome.

  ALSO BY LISA SCHROEDER

  It’s Raining Cupcakes

  I Heart You, You Haunt Me

  Far from You

  Chasing Brooklyn

  The Day Before

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin hardcover edition September 2011

  Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Schroeder

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction

  in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo

  is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event.

  For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster

  Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Designed by Karin Paprocki

  The text of this book was set in MrsEaves.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Schroeder, Lisa.

  Sprinkles and secrets / by Lisa Schroeder. —1st Aladdin hardcover ed.

  p. cm.

  Companion book to: It’s Raining Cupcakes.

  Summary: Twelve-year-old Sophie is excited to have the opportunity to audition

  for a television commercial until she learns the company is Beatrice’s Brownies,

  the biggest competitor to her best friend’s family’s cupcake shop.

  Includes recipes for chocolate treats.

  ISBN 978-1-4424-2263-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

  [i. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Bakers and bakeries—Fiction.

  4. Auditions—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.S38l8Sp 2011

  [Fic]—dc22

  2010048277

  ISBN 978-1-4424-2265-0 (eBook)

  WE HOPE YOU LOVED READING THIS EBOOK!

  We have SO many more books for kids in the in-beTWEEN age that we’d love to share with you! Sign up for our IN THE MIDDLE books newsletter and you’ll receive news about other great books, exclusive excerpts, games, author interviews, and more!

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

  or visit us online to sign up at

  eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com/middle

  nd Secrets