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PRESCHOOL
McKee, Jonathan

Oh Look, a Cake!

40 pp. | Clarion | May, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-358-38030-6 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-358-37961-4 $13.99
(2) PS Sloth and Lemur stumble upon a beautiful (and unattended) three-tiered cake with pink icing and sprinkles. "We should have a party." Coming up with a guest list, however, is challenging. Elephant would eat the whole thing; Tiger would, too, "...and then you. And then me!" Peacock, Ant, Dolphin, and others all have their negatives. Eventually, Sloth and Lemur realize that if they want a job done right, they need to do it themselves, which they do until their faces and distended bellies are covered in chocolatey evidence. The dialogue-only story plays out on clean pastel-colored pages, focusing attention on the characters' interactions in the illustrations. McKee's deft use of line and dots for eyes clearly communicates tone and mood. If the book ended after the feeding frenzy, this would be an amusingly predictable story. Instead, the cautionary tale (don't eat found cake) concludes after an ­unexpected I Want My Hat ­Back–esque turn, in which the cake-eaters are, ultimately, dessert. Storytime audiences will devour this book's sly humor, effective page-turns, and subtle visual f­oreshadowing.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

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