Prepare yourself for adorableness in this week’s In the Middle. Not only is Kate Hannigan’s Cupcake Cousins an adorable book, her childhood photo (in the interview below) is one of the cutest ever.

Baking a fluffy pink cupcake is awesome, but wearing a dress that looks like one? No, thank you! Cousins Willow and Delia can’t wait to spend a week vacationing together with their families. Their aunt is getting married, and Willow and Delia are hoping their tasty baked goods will be enough to get them out of being flower girls in the wedding.

But with a mischievous little brother, a bacon-loving dog, and a misbehaving blender in the mix, their treats don’t exactly turn out as planned. When a real emergency threatens to ruin the wedding, will their baking skills be enough to save the day?

Join Willow and Delia in the kitchen by following their scrumptious recipes for whoopee pies, peach pancakes, and other tasty treats!

Cupcake Cousins is available on IndieBound, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in bookstores near you.

Q&A with Kate

What draws you into writing for a middle grade audience?

I don’t feel all that removed from the 10- or 12-year-old I once was. My kids find that hard to understand, of course. But I feel like that time in my life is still crystal clear. And I believe middle-grade is where the truths are, where the essence of what you are is present, and the promise of what’s to come is a just glimmer on the horizon. And good middle-grade books make older readers remember what it all was like, and they help younger readers see what’s possible.

If you had a time machine and could visit middle-grade you, what would you tell her?

First I’d tell myself to stop fighting the curly hair and just embrace it already! No more hot rollers to try and calm it!

I was and still am a World-Class Worrier. Give me 20 minutes and any topic you want, and I’ll find a variety of things to get into knots about. Back when I was in grade school, it was the Africanized killer bees. (Look! They’re still coming!) So if I could hang out one day with my younger self, I would say not to worry. It all works out in the end, for the most part.

Oh, and I’d tell my younger self that Mom and Dad are really close to caving on the dog question, so keep begging!

Choose your own adventure: Is there an interview question you’d love to answer, but haven’t been asked?

What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Don’t get discouraged. Sometimes a “no” just means “revise it.” There are so many people involved in bringing a story to life, and each of them brings her vision to the work. While you have to stay true to yourself and your project, realize that other eyes and opinions can help improve it. So when you hear, “It’s not right for me” from an agent or an editor, take that as an opportunity to make the manuscript stronger.

I was terrified of killer bees too! Those things are scary! Thanks for dropping in, Kate, and congratulations on your debut!

Kate Hannigan stepped up her domestic skills after her daughter read LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and started asking to make Johnny Cakes and candles. A former newspaper journalist, Kate is now an active blogger and dangerous home cook. When summer rolls around, she does everything she can to get to Northern Michigan for fruit picking, bike riding, and hunting for Petoskey stones. CUPCAKE COUSINS is her debut novel. Her historical fiction for middle-graders, THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT, comes out with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in 2015. Connect with Kate on her websites, KateHannigan.com and AuthorOf.blogspot.com, Facebook and Twitter.