Book Review – The Cake

Tiger wants to bake a cake. A chocolate cake. But rabbit has a weakness for carrot cake. Monkey wants a banana cake. Dog is licking his chops thinking about a bone cake. And little bear really wants a fish cake. Is there a way to satisfy everyone?

I will be honest and say that when I first laid eyes on Dorothée de Monfried’s The Cake, it didn’t appeal. There was something about the cover illustration that I didn’t like, and I committed that big sin of judging a book by its cover.

My boys, on the other hand, loved this book from the moment I opened the first page. They thought it was hilarious, and we read it at least four times in quick succession.

I thought it would appeal more to Tiny than to Pickle, but boy, was I wrong. My babiest baby, quite literally, thinks this is the best book ever. We took it on holiday recently, and over the course of the four-hour flight from Dunedin to Brisbane, I think I read The Cake over a gazillion times. Every morning, when he would wake up at ridiculous-o’clock, I’d hear him pattering through to our room, and would be woken with a book on the face, and a small voice saying, “The Cake. I want to read The Cake.”

I love that the story is told using speech bubbles, and that there’s a twist at the end. I love that there’s scope for character-voices, and that my not-quite-two-year-old knows exactly what’s going on through the illustrations. And the more I read it (thrice-daily), the more appealing those illustrations become.

But the most important thing is that The Cake is a huge hit with my littlies, and you can’t ask for much more than that with a kids’ book.

Thank you to Gecko Press for providing this copy for review – The Cake is due to be published in July 2014.

Soz for the terribly reflecty photos…it’s dark, two lights have blown in our lounge, and I’m using the camera on my mobile phone…

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