Pinkalicious and the Cupcake Calamity

by Victoria Kann

Readers can watch Pinkalicious and Peterrific on the funtastic PBS Kids TV series Pinkalicious & Peterrific ! A fun Pinkalicious I Can Read story about a cupcake adventure from New York Times bestselling author Victoria Kann Join Pinkalicious on a cupcake adventure! Mr. Swizzle has a surprise for everyone in a brand-new cupcake machine! Pinka-de-licious! But when the cupcakes don’t come out, Pinkalicious sneaks inside the machine to see what’s going on. She ends up with an even bigger treat than she imagined! Pinkalicious and the Cupcake Calamity is a Level One I Can Read adventure and is carefully crafted using short sentences, familiar words, and simple concepts for children eager to read on their own.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

About the author

Victoria Kann is the award-winning illustrator and author of the picture book series featuring the whimsical and effervescent character Pinkalicious. Victoria coauthored and illustrated the first two books, Pinkalicious and Purplicious. In addition, she cowrote Pinkalicious: The Musical and wrote and illustrated the #1 New York Times bestsellers Goldilicious and Silverlicious. Currently she is working on several more books about the adventures and antics of Pinkalicious. You can visit her online at www.thinkpinkalicious.com.

Reviews

[theGraveyard Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving this two stars because the idea of a cupcake machine like that is pure awesomeness and warrants at least one star. However, Pinkalicious causes the machine to explode because she can't wait for Mr. Swizzle to try to fix it on her own. It'd be great if there were more positive behaviors displayed by Pinkalicious and rewarded (or maybe some remorse?) but she still gets what she wants after terrible decision making.

That being said, there is a four-year-old out there who gives it five stars and loves this story for the adventure...

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the great vocab in these books!

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

there's a lot of cupcakes that look yummy & she works on fixing the machine. fun story for learning to read

[francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The owner of the ice cream parlor decides to expand his business into cupcakes with the help of a flashy new gizmo, but the Cupcake-Create-O-Matic fails to launch on its maiden voyage. While Mr. Swizzle consults the owner’s manual, Pinkalicious, impatient for her cupcake, decides to take matters into her own hands ... with zanily disastrous results.

This is my preschooler’s new favorite book, and we have read it a dozen times so far. It’s cute in its silliness and shorter and less difficult to endure than many other children’s books that I have been forced to read multiple times.

Rather than containing any moral such as always do a test run before going live with something new , don’t attempt home repairs on sophisticated equipment, or even stick to what you know, it seems to be in the storytelling tradition of lovable protagonist gets in wacky trouble after which everyone has a good laugh, and the damage is simply written off. The story inexplicably reminded me of the episode of "I Love Lucy" in which Lucy and Ethel stomp grapes. Perhaps it's the vino-gelato connection.

If this book put you in the mood for another cupcake catastrophe, try Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pinkalicious has a quality that ennobles this lighthearted fantasy of a story -- at least for me. She has a full share of curiosity. Wonderful!

Goodreaders, meet Mr. Swizzle and his new cupcake machine. That's right, cupcake MACHINE.

After she puts in her money, cupcakes don’t come out. Due to her adventure-seeking curiosity, Pinkalicious sneaks inside the machine to see what’s going on. Pure fantasy there, Goodreaders. Suspend your disbelief, adults.

My favorite quote is here, taken from the most suspenseful part:

The machine started filling up with batter!
"I want to eat a cupcake," I said, "not BE a cupcake."

FIVE STARS for a fantasy romp into the blithely pink world of the playful Pinkalicious.

[Erin Dunlavy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was told Zoe enjoyed some Pinkalicious books at school so I have read a few to her. I do not like this book at all. I am not the target audience but even though I like to read Zoe silly, nonsensical, and ridiculous books that are fun, this was dumb. They made a giant cupcake that ended up filled with wires and machinery and they were all going to eat it. She crawled inside a machine that would have had to have an oven to bake the cupcake and she's fine. I was annoyed.

[Allyson Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have known several young girls who have greatly enjoyed all the Pinkalicious books. I think this book in particular is fun as it includes a cupcake machine that explodes resulting in a giant pink cupcake. I am sure many kids fantasize about giant deserts which is included in this story. One aspect that parents might appreciate is that everyone shares the cupcake rather than one child indulging in the large desert by oneself.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure which message this book sends is worse, the one where if something of someone else's doesn't immediately gratify you you should mess with it (despite the owner asking you to wait and despite the fact that it's dangerous machinery), or the one that says that the consequence of completely ruining someone's new, special machine (that is attached to their livelihood) is a giant cupcake and the owner giving up on their new project happily. There's not one redeemable spot in this book.

[Maddie Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uhhh... the idea of a cupcake machine is amazing, but WHY WOULD PINKALICIOUS EVEN CLIMB INTO THE CUPCAKE MACHINE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Personally, Pinkalicious should be a cupcake. Ya wanna know why? BECAUSE A CUPCAKE IS SMARTER THAN SHE WILL EVER BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a silly story and she really liked it. The silliest cupcake calamity ever. 🤓😜😜😜😜🤓😗😘😜😜😋😍😗😝🤓🤗🤗🤓🤓😒😒🤓

[Shiloah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with my Braedon (6).

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s funny.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

BCFL Checkout (Warminster/9 books in one day per A).

Second read was me - I read to make sure it was appropriate.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

SMART 2019-2020

[Carolyn, Ur Local Carrot Stick · Rating 5 out of 5]

TBH, a lot better than the rest of the books. :/

[Marie-Louise Jeberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 4years just love this book with a verye big cupcake.

I use the books for learing english.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An elementary and up easy reader about Pinkalicious sneaking into a cupcake machine to see why it's not working.

[Umar F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irk

It was also the most important of a time in which I was 9yearsvokld to see the client and the client to see the client who had to be in touch and I understand

[Paloma Olascoaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great and comical read. My boys enjoyed it. My oldest is a beginner reader and had fun reading this book. We are fans of pinkalicious cartoon on PBS kids.

[Lbrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Q and W review

We like the giant cupcake. 2 giant cupcakes fight with girls inside of them. More cupcakes giant fight. Only cupcakes.

[Neshaisabookworm’s Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baby Bookworm loves this book! We have read it at least once a week for the past month!

[Khya Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a cute book

[Khya Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute book

[Zainab · Rating 5 out of 5]

She loves pinkalicious and there is always a good lesson hidden in these stories.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

My toddler chose this at the library and she found it amusing. My own expectations were very low, but it was an ok read. Don't expect any valuable lessons to come out of this though.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of an odd story. The ice cream man made a cupcake machine. That anyone that put a dollar in could make a cupcake of their choice. So Pinkalicious was first but she didn't get a cupcake, the other children didn't either. So Pick climbed in the machine and got mixed in the batter and eventually the machine blew up and out popped a huge cupcake with her on the top of the cupcake. Even my special needs adult son kind of frowned and I asked him 'how would you like to be baked in a cupcake" He said 'no eat me' ... So kind of be aware of this story...some may think it's funny but other children may think it's weird and others may think it's scary...

[Jasmine Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jasmine said, "Mommy can we get more books like this?" She REALLY loves the Pinkalicious books! Of course mommy will get them for you dear! :)

[Carol Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute enough.. and had a mixture of easy words and a few challenging ones.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pinkalicious wants a cupcake so bad that she tries to fix the cupcake machine but, instead of fixing it she makes a giant pink cupcake and breaks the machine.