Nicky’s Secret Notes: Cake and Chaos

Children & Young Adult, Children's Books, Children's Books Age 10+, Children's Books Friends / Family, Children's Books Comic Novels

Bad hair days with happy endings: completely normal teen insanity


Nicky’s notebook holds everything from her chaotic teen life: baking recipes that she will eventually publish on her personal vlog (while also trying to win the heart of Irish exchange student Liam with her baked goods), comments from her best friend Becky, the current status of the bad hair day scale, pasted concert tickets, and all sorts of lists with which Nicky is trying to bring order to her hectic life.


  • For everyone who has grown out of Penny Pepper
  • With recipes and other creative ideas Funny, fizzy, with lots of scribbly hand-lettered illustrations
Ulrike Rylance

Ulrike Rylance was born in 1968 and studied English and German in Leipzig and London. She was an assistant teacher in Wales and Manchester, and also taught German to children and adults in London. In 2001 she moved to Seattle, USA, with her husband and two daughters.  

Silke Schmidt

Silke Schmidt was born in 1973. She studied literature in Mainz and Edinburgh and fine arts at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. Since then she has been working as an artist and illustrator for various magazines, publishers and companies. She lives in near Berlin with her family.  

Nicky’s Secret Notes: Cake and Chaos

Bad hair days with happy endings: completely normal teen insanity


Nicky’s notebook holds everything from her chaotic teen life: baking recipes that she will eventually publish on her personal vlog (while also trying to win the heart of Irish exchange student Liam with her baked goods), comments from her best friend Becky, the current status of the bad hair day scale, pasted concert tickets, and all sorts of lists with which Nicky is trying to bring order to her hectic life.


  • For everyone who has grown out of Penny Pepper
  • With recipes and other creative ideas Funny, fizzy, with lots of scribbly hand-lettered illustrations
Bibliographic Data
208 pages, ISBN: 978-3-423-76259-5
First published 2019