Early Book Review: This is a Birthday Cake by Andrew Cangelose, Josh Shipley

This is a Birthday Cake is a picturebook written by Andrew Cangelose and illustrated by Josh Shipley. It is currently scheduled for release on July 12 2022. It's Taco the squirrel's birthday, and all of his little animal friends are planning a big surprise for him—they're going to make him a birthday cake! The only problem with their plan is that the baker in the group is too slow. So, as this sassy crew of critters is known to do, they set out to learn all they can about birthday cakes and how to make one, with spectacularly disastrous and delightful results.

This is a Birthday Cake is a fun and highly entertaining read. I like that readers get a bit of history about birthday cakes, and how to bake one, even as we go along as Bucky speeds through a much less tasty cake making process. I thought that Bucky's desire to hurry things along and do things his own way is something that many young readers can relate to, as are the less than perfect results. I like that while a lesson is learned, the book is still a joy to read without feeling like the lesson was the only point of the book. The story and illustrations are great fun and never treat the readers or even the impetuous Bucky like they are bad for the mistakes that they make. This was just a fun read and I think it would be a great choice for storytime, bedtime, and multiple reads by new fans.  

Book Review: Ready to Ride by Sébastien Pelon

Ready to Ride is a picturebook written and illustrated by Sébastien Pelon. A little boy is told to play outside by his mum and bumps into an imaginary friend with whom he goes for a bike ride. At first he finds it difficult to keep up, but with the imaginary friend’s help he takes off the bike’s training wheels and learns to ride. 

Ready to Ride is a fun story with smooth, charming illustrations. The boy's efforts to learn to ride is well done ad sweet. The story is certainly light-hearted, but still manages to encourage kids to keep trying and practicing, showing them that putting in some effort is the only way to learn and get better. I enjoyed the read, but must admit that there were some formatting issues with my digital galley, which I know will not effect readers in the final copy. That made it slightly more challenging to read- however it was worth the effort and I found the book to be enjoyable and sweet.