The little bitty bakery

Leslie Muir

Book - 2011

When a pastry chef works straight through her birthday with no time for birthday cake, some industrious mice make good use of her kitchen and bake a delicious surprise.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jE/Muir Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Stories in rhyme
Picture books
Published
New York : Disney-Hyperion Books 2011.
Language
English
Main Author
Leslie Muir (-)
Edition
1st ed
Physical Description
unpaged : ill
ISBN
9781423116400
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

After a long day at her French bakery, an elephant retires to her upstairs bedroom. "But as she hung her apron,/ her heart began to ache:/ 'I've worked away my special day./ I've had no birthday cake!' " While she sleeps, mice scurry about the kitchen to rectify that situation. Awakening to sweet (but mysterious) smells, the elephant "tiptoed down the staircase,/ as quiet as a cat-/ clutched a day-old stick of bread/ just like a baseball bat." With a slapstick flourish, she slips on a butter pat and slides across the bakery floor, landing in front of her candle-topped birthday surprise and its wee bakers. Given the story's nighttime setting, the art by Caldecott Honor artist Lewin (Click, Clack, Moo and its sequels) is dominated by shadowy blues and grays, her characteristically fluid paintings lending the story moments of both comedy and light suspense. Muir's (Barry B. Wary) cheerful verse is sprinkled with asterisked French words (translated at the bottom of the page) and evocative references to food, which should pique the interest of future Julia Childs and Jacques Pepins. Ages 2-5. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-Elephant, a pastry chef, has been busy baking all day long. Too late and too tired to celebrate her birthday, she climbs into bed exhausted. But downstairs in the kitchen things are heating up. Suddenly a bunch of mice arrives on the scene and hatches a plan to make a luscious treat. They gather ingredients, measure and mix, and soon place their heartfelt creation into the oven. Elephant wakes up and startles the mice, who surprise her with a Crumble Jumble cake, which they proceed to enjoy and nibble on until morning. This delightful read-aloud, with its enticing cover featuring an array of sparkling baked goods, works well on many levels. Muir's sweet, engaging story is sprinkled with French words throughout, and Lewin's charming cartoon art, in nighttime shades of blue and purple, uses thick and thin brush lines to capture the action. Appended recipes are the icing on the cake.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.