From Kelly J. Baptist, the award-winning author ofIsaiah Dunn Is My Hero, comes a story about Zoe Sparks, an over-enthusiastic cookie-dough seller who wishes to win a laptop from her school fundraiser. Of course, there’s unexpected competition, bad music, strained friendships, and over-the-top ideas that go horribly wrong.

Spunky sixth-grader Zoe Sparks has discovered a unique way to get the laptop of her dreams–to win it! If Zoe can sell more tubs of cookie dough than anyone in her school, the laptop is hers. It’s the first step to becoming a prize-winning journalist! But her win-at-all-costs attitude is starting to drive a wedge between Zoe, her best friend Felix, and her family. Zoe may be a top cookie-dough seller in her class, but is winning the prize really worth it?

Kelly J. Baptist is the inaugural winner of the We Need Diverse Books short-story contest. Her story is featured in the WNDB anthologyFlying Lessons & Other Storiesand inspired her first full-length novel,Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, which received starred reviews fromBooklistandPublishers Weekly, and which theNew York Timespraised as “inventive and heartfelt,” and its sequel,Isaiah Dunn Saves the Day. Her middle-grade novelThe Swag Is in the Socksreceived starred reviews fromThe BulletinandBooklist, which called it “an excellent read-alike to Jacqueline Woodson’sHarbor Meor Janae Marks’From the Desk of Zoe Washington.” Kelly is also the author of the picture bookThe Electric Slide and Kaiand the middle-grade novel in verseEb & Flow. Kelly lives in southwest Michigan with her five amazing children.

• Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers (October 17, 2023)
• Language: English
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• ISBN-10: 0593429176
• ISBN-13: 9780593429174
• Reading age: 8 – 10 years
• Grade level: 3 – 5
• Item Weight: 1 pound
• Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.44 x 8.25 inches