Harry and Gran Bake a Cake (Fiona McIntosh, illus Sara Acton, Puffin)

Fiona McIntosh (The Sugar Palace), the much-celebrated author for grown-ups, makes her debut in picture books with the simply delicious Harry and Gran Bake a Cake. A day in the kitchen and a sweet collaboration between generations yields a yummy chocolate cake—although not without a few mishaps along the way! At each step in the process, Gran trusts Harry to make decisions and help with the cooking. That’s lucky because Gran is the one causing chaos as she almost forgets the eggs, trips over the cat, and adds the dry ingredients before the mixer has been turned off. Together, they dust themselves off and finish the job with good humour and a healthy sprinkling of love, even sharing the recipe with the reader. Early childhood educators will be delighted by the sequential nature of the story, which also ticks off concepts such as counting, patience and natural consequences. Sara Acton’s cheerful watercolour-and-ink illustrations add humorous details to the simple text, whether it’s the many startled faces of the highly expressive cat or Gran’s reading choice while they wait for the timer to go off (McIntosh’s The Pearl Thief). This book is suited to a younger audience than that of the obvious recent comparison, To Stir with Love, and is ideal for those aged two and up to share with their grandparents.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Annie Waters sells books, writes about books and podcasts about books. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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