School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A wide-eyed, red-haired child announces with glee that today is the day to bake with Dad. The ingredients are gathered, and the adventures (and baking) start with flying eggs, mixing, shaking, and clouds of flour. Once the decoration creation begins, readers understand that today is more than just a baking day-it's a party day! Cacciapuoti starts the story even before the first page with a delightful spread featuring colored pencil illustrations of ingredients for baking with a few not-so-edible additions, such as spiders, socks, and snails. The final party scene shows a diverse group of adults and children dancing and enjoying all of the preparations. The book closes with another unique spread of illustrations, which serves as a prologue to the cleanup after baking and celebrating. An added sweet treat for readers-the family cat is pictured throughout, reacting to joyful chaos, sheltering under an umbrella from a shower of sugar, and glancing nervously at the goings-on. VERDICT A nice storytime addition to spark conversations about process, baking, and birthdays.--Karen Ginman, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
A girl with scribbly red pigtails, big eyes, and a triumphant grin is delighted to bake a cake with her bald, bearded father. Eggs soar through the air, whisking and mixing take on the feel of a synchronized dance routine, and the two channel Carmen Miranda while gathering fruit as they don grass skirts and shake maracas. The result is a supremely messy kitchen and an over-the-top layer cake, a birthday surprise for a male adult; though he isn't identified, there's a clear suggestion that he might also be a father in this family. The sheer exuberance of this joyful tale should send readers straight to the kitchen. Ages 3-8. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
