No Cream Puffs by Karen Day

I liked Tall Tales so much (Karen Day’s first book) that I could barely wait until my youngest finished No Cream Puffs to read it. This is a story of how 12 year old Madison becomes a local celebrity by doing nothing special-  well, in her mind anyway – she just wants to play baseball. And the fact that she is the first girl to play in the boy’s league in Michigan (the story set in the 1970’s) is a very big deal to a lot of  people, some supportive, some not.  Karen Day does a great job of  grasping the feelings of a middle-schooler – the insecurities, the drastically fast ebb and  flow of friendships (especially that of girls), and finding out who you really are and what you care about – it’s something that eludes many adults. I liked everything about this book and your tween will, too.  You don’t have to be a huge baseball fan to like it either – but it might make you want to go toss a ball or at the very least, cheer on your local team.