Bunny Cakes

by Rosemary Wells

This Max and Ruby book is one of my favorites. Max and his big sister Ruby are each preparing a cake for their grandmother's birthday: Max is making a mud-pie cake with earthworms in it outside, and Ruby is methodically baking a cake in the kitchen. Max wants to help her, but keeps accidentally knocking things off the table. Each time Ruby sends Max with a written note to the grocery store to replace the item. Max wants a special ingredient to top off his earthworm cake, but he can't quite communicate that to the grocer. Finally he is inspired by one of Ruby's own notes to himself, and finds a way to get his treat.

I love so many things about this book. First, it's so darn cute. The bunnies determined to make something special for their grandma. Each doing something on their own: Ruby's lopsided pink-frosted cake has a close contender in Max's mud-and-earthworm cake. Grandma appropriately looks thrilled with both, and when I ask my toddler at the end which cake she would like to eat she always says "the brown one!" She doesn't quite get the yucky factor in that yet, but it does make my older daughter giggle. The story has a very realistic dynamic between siblings: the bossy older sister, younger one trying to help but messing things up, doing his best to make up for his mistakes and determined to get what he wants as well. Of course my favorite element is the role drawing takes as a communication vector. Wonderful story!

Rating: 5/5 ....... 32 pages, 1977

more opinions:
Brenna's Books
Kindergarten Reads
The Toy Bag