WHERE IS THE CAKE?

Multiple plots converge as small animal couples, traveling through wide, hilly landscapes, do the same in this wordless import. The titular cake isn’t too hard to track as it’s nearly always in sight—snatched by a pair of rats, who are pursued by its original owners, a canine couple, past mischievous monkeys, a mother rabbit with a hysterical child, two soccer-playing frogs, budding romance, sudden tumbles and several other mini-dramas. Ultimately, the thieves are subdued and the cake, rescued from a stream (and none the worse for being dunked), is parceled out to all comers as the main course of an impromptu picnic. The finely drawn creatures, all in human dress, are small but not so tiny as the ones in such similar multi-stranded titles as Elisha Cooper’s Beach (2006) or Charlotte Dematons’s Yellow Balloon (2004). An uncrowded charmer for younger (or for that matter, older) eyes. (Picture book. 5-9)