Amber Addison is fed up with her kindergartener sister. It’s Ava’s fault she’s missing her best friend’s birthday party, the most anticipated event in their sixth-grade class. To make matters worse, Ava has coerced her into playing Sweet Treats board game and she keeps losing to a five-year-old. When Amber’s irritation gets the best of her, she throws the game, destroying it.

As the board disintegrates, the two girls are swept into a swirling vortex and they find themselves in the middle of Sweet Treats kingdom. Ava is kidnapped by an evil queen, and Amber finds herself relying on a mint-green rabbit to help her find her way to Bonbon Castle with the hope of finding her sister. Along the way, she encounters more sweets than she could ever eat along with fantastical beings. Some will become her friend and others create danger that she must survive in order to save her sister and find their way home.

Eleven-year-old Amber Addison is supposed to be in charge. But babysitting her little sister, Ava, and Ava’s cranky best friend, Harper, is hard enough before a board game magically comes to life. One minute, the girls are playing Cherry Hill Orchard. The next, a tiny cherry token swells to an impossible size, scoops them up, spins them silly, and drops them into a real orchard bursting with ripe cherries and plenty of trouble.

There, a family of enormous talking cats begs for their help. Sneaky dogs are stealing the harvest and trying to drive the cats from their home. The cats promise to lead Amber, Ava, and Harper to their queen, who may know how to send them back, but only if the girls can save the orchard first.

To get home, Amber will have to outsmart the dogs, keep her sister safe, and figure out whether Harper is really as impossible as she seems. Because in Cherry Hill Orchard, friendship may be the best magic of all.

Includes an easy cherry recipe!

Amber is almost twelve, and she is not in the mood for baby brothers, bossy cousins, or board games that cheat.

Then one stomp sends Amber, her little sister Ava, and their math-whiz cousin Mason whooshing down a magical slide into the Kingdom of Slide—a place where number geniuses live like royalty, artists are treated like servants, and one wrong answer can send you straight to the basement.

When Mason is swept up to a glittering tower, Amber must break the kingdom’s unfair rules, rescue the kids trapped below, and find a way home before the slide closes for good.

The Secret of the Kingdom of Slide is a whimsical middle-grade adventure about courage, family, and discovering that every talent counts.

Includes a fun recipe!