by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Hélène Convert ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2016
Future chefs may enjoy flicking the moving parts back and forth, but only grown-ups who know their ways around a cookbook...
Sturdy sliders invite budding bakers to measure out flour and sugar, mix ingredients, and decorate a four-egg “let’s pretend cake!”
A “pretend cake” is the only sort that will come out of this recipe. In the cartoon illustrations, cute mice in toques pose next to the required bowls, kitchen implements, and ingredients. With sliding tabs, a stream of sugar pours into a bowl as readings on a scale change, a mixer and a spoon can be moved back and forth, and temperature and time set on an oven. Baumann only suggests adult help for this last step—leaving everything else, including taking out the hot pan and flipping it over, to the child. Though it is a common practice in international recipes (this is a French import), real beginners may be confused to see the flour and sugar quantified in “cups” in English measure but “grams” in the metric equivalents. Prospective bakers are also instructed during the preparation to separate egg whites and yolks without being shown how. Moreover, the direction to put the cake pan in the oven is mistakenly repeated on a later page. Worst, when it comes time to pour on the raspberry sauce at the end, a second, smaller cake suddenly appears atop the first—since layers were previously unmentioned, readers will be hard-pressed to know which layer they have measurements for and which they don’t.
Future chefs may enjoy flicking the moving parts back and forth, but only grown-ups who know their ways around a cookbook are going to get a passable sponge cake from this. (carrying handle) (Novelty. 2-4)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 979-1-0276-0140-0
Page Count: 8
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
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by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Éléanore Della Malva ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
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by Steve Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 2010
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.
Awards & Accolades
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Hannah Hadley is a young special agent who must thwart a clear and present danger to the United States in Hoover’s “smart is cool” young adult novel.
Hannah Hadley might seem like most 13-year-old girls. She enjoys painting, playing with her MP3 player and spending time with friends. But that’s where the similarities end. Hadley doubles as Agent 10-1, among the youngest spies drafted into the CIA’s Div Y department. She’s joined in her missions by her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Kiwi (with whom she communicates telepathically), and her best friend Tommie Claire, a blind girl with heightened senses. When duty calls, the group sneaks to a hidden command center located under the floor of Hadley’s art studio. Her current mission, aptly named “Operation Farmer Jones,” takes her to a secluded farmhouse in Canada. There, al-Qaida terrorists have gathered the necessary ingredients for a particularly devastating nuclear warhead that they intend to fire into America. The villains are joined by the Mad Madam of Mayhem, a physicist for hire whom the terrorists force to complete the weapon of mass destruction. With Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond series and the ongoing 39 Clues novellas, covert missions and secret plans are the plots of choice in much of today’s fiction for young readers, and references to the famed 007 stories abound in Hoover’s tale. But while the plot feels familiar, Hoover’s use of modern slang—albeit strained at times—and gadgets such as the iTouch appeal to today’s youth. Placing girls in adult situations has been a mainstay since Mildred Wirt Benson first introduced readers to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock, but Hannah Hadley is like Nancy Drew on steroids. Both are athletic, score well in their studies and have a measure of popularity. Hadley, however, displays a genius-level intellect and near superhuman abilities in her efforts to roust the terrorists—handy skills for a young teen spy who just so happens to get the best grades in school.
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0615419688
Page Count: 239
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Puck & illustrated by Violet Lemay ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2012
Pretentious.
These babies are too posh for their own good.
In this smug review of daily life in the Big Apple, including its tourist attractions, the developmental mark is missed entirely. A little girl holds her mother's hand as they stroll through the art museum: “We say MoMA when we really mean Mama.” Less obscurely, a four-panel spread depicts a babe in stroller through changing seasons; the snow piles high and a scarf covers the child's face during the blustery winter. The food-cart experience is represented by a bagel, pizza and pretzel, glossed with a gush: “And we have fun learning our shapes!” In a nod to the city's diversity, youngsters greet each other in a host of languages. Busy pops of bold colors emphasize the hustle and bustle. A darkened cityscape seems to promise rest, but one cry ("Waaaa!") lights up the sky. “New York is the city that never sleeps, but New York babies do…sometimes.” Two concluding pages of suggested parent-child activities overwhelm in their attempt to educate.
Pretentious. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9838121-4-2
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Duo Press
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
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