The café at the edge of the woods

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Title:

Alternate title:

at head of title: Rene & Glumfoot in

Author:

Please, Mikey, author, illustrator.

Summary:

"Rene and Glumfoot are ready to serve very fine cuisine at the café at the edge of the woods. But when their first customer, an ogre, demands pickled bats and battered mice, Rene is ready to give up! She can't possibly serve such rubbish. Or can she? With a little bit of compromise, perhaps she can satisfy her customer and still serve the most delicious grub."-- Publisher

Audience:

Ages 4-8 Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.

Edition:

First U.S. edition

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm

Genre:

Picture books.

Stories in rhyme.

Subject Term:

Animals, Mythical -- Juvenile fiction.

Food habits -- Juvenile fiction.

Ghouls and ogres -- Juvenile fiction.

Monsters -- Juvenile fiction.

Restaurants -- Juvenile fiction.

Publisher:

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2024

ISBN:

9780063345492

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2024

Call Number:

P PLEASE

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003756262	New Picture Books	PLEASE	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"I really, really love this story." --Jon Klassen

Lemony Snicket meets Grimms' fairy tales in an outrageously original picture book debut by BAFTA Award-winning and Oscar-nominated animation director Mikey Please. In The Café at the Edge of the Woods, an aspiring chef opens a café beside an enchanted forest and discovers locals with a most peculiar palette.

Rene and Glumfoot are ready to serve Very Fine Cuisine at the Café at the Edge of the Woods. But when their first customer, an ogre, demands pickled bats and battered mice, Rene is ready to give up! She can't possibly serve such rubbish. Or can she?

With a little bit of compromise, perhaps she can satisfy her customer and still serve the most delicious grub.

Full of humor, unlikely friendship, themes of teamwork, and unexpected surprises, this charming and hilarious picture book is a winning recipe for readers who loved A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall, The Dark by Lemony Snicket, The Skull by Jon Klassen, and any fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm!

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

This appealingly loathsome picture book by Please (Robin Robin) opens as its hero, determined, red-headed human Rene, builds a café at the edge of a dark forest, "beam by beam," then hires Glumfoot, a small green being with pointy ears, to wait tables. Please's sepia-tinged, theatrically lit spreads give the pages a graphic novel feel, creating ample atmosphere for the café and sympathy for its proprietor when no customers appear. Nursery-rhyme meter adds levity: "Perhaps this plot/ is the worst spot?... My hopes and dreams will turn to rot," Rene groans. Then Glumfoot goes out walking and brings back a green ogre whose "knuckles dragged upon the floor." Tension mounts as the ogre requests dishes that Rene feels are too disgusting to consider ("Bats! And slugs and battered mice!"). In a cinema-ready moment, the cook storms off into the kitchen, and the waiter performs a quiet feat of cultural translation, saving the day, and the café. A startling visual mix of elegantly plated restaurant food and friendly horror--extra points for the way Glumfoot makes each dish acceptably revolting--show how collaboration and compassion can yield surprising results. Ages 4--8. (Oct.)