The cook and the king

The Cook and the King is a picture book about an unlikely friendship, a fun and hilarious romp from bestselling team, author Julia Donaldson and illustrator David Roberts.

The king searches his kingdom far and wide for the perfect cook. He's very particular, and none of the cooks can get the job done just right. Until the king meets Wobbly Bob.

The king thinks Wobbly Bob might be the perfect fit, but there's just one small hitch--Wobbly Bob is afraid of everything. He's afraid that he'll nick himself with the sharp kitchen knives, and he's afraid he'll get dirt from the vegetable garden on his new apron. Wobbly Bob needs a companion to help him feel brave, so the king himself tags along every step of the way.

"Donaldson's thumping lines scan as confidently as ever, while expressive characters painted by Roberts transmit emotion with great versatility, from fear to absorption to embarrassed relief. The image of a king in glad collaboration offers a gentle vision of how to rule." -- Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Author Notes

Julia Catherine Donaldson was born on Sept. 16, 1948 in London. She is a British writer and playwright and the 2011-2013 Children's Laureate. She is known for her rhyming stories for children. These include: The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man. She began writing songs for children's television but has focused on writing books when the words of one of her songs - A Squash and a Squeeze were made into a children's book in 1993. She has over 180 published works with 120 of them intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme, which is part of the Oxfird Reading Tree.

She has won several awards including: The Stockport Book Award for her title The Troll, The Oxfordshire Book Award for her title Zog and The Oldham Book Award for her title Jack and the Flumflum Tree. In 2015 The Gruffalo made The New Zealand Best Seller List.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The redoubtable Donaldson (The Gruffalo) starts her story with a hungry king auditioning prospective cooks. He's a sensible-looking monarch with a mustache and a paunch, and from the line of be-aproned hopefuls he selects Wobbly Bob, a self-deprecating fellow with mismatched socks. But when asked to make fish and chips and to begin by gathering the ingredients, Wobbly Bob can't face the trial ("I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm terribly scared!"). In response, the king loads Bob into a Viking longboat and does the fishing for him: "''I'll help you fish,' said the hungry king,/ So he fished and he fished like anything." The gesture also establishes a pattern: the king suggests a next step, Wobbly Bob explains nervously why he can't comply ("I'm scared of worms and I'm scared of ants./ They might crawl into my nice new pants"), and the king, showing genuine sympathy, takes over the next task. Donaldson's thumping lines scan as confidently as ever, while expressive characters painted by Roberts (Rosie Revere, Engineer) transmit emotion with great versatility, from fear to absorption to embarrassed relief. The image of a king in glad collaboration offers a gentle vision of how to rule. Ages 3-7. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review