Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Today's read... The BIG Christmas Bake by Fiona Barker

Our oven is running every day, this time of year, so this book seemed to fit right in. Plus, I would love to dive into such a big, yummy cake...maybe, not if it were baked with chickens and dogs in the mix, though. 

Anyway, let's take a peek.


THE BIG CHRISTMAS BAKE
by Fiona Barker
Illustrated by Pippa Curnick
Happy Yak
Picture Book / Holidays
32 pages
ages 4 to 8






The Big Christmas Bake is a funny, lively romp through the twelve days of Christmas, taking the elements of the popular carol, and weaving them cleverly into the ingredients for a Twelfth Night Cake.

Starting with the partridge and its gift of dried fruit, this rhyming story includes all of the familiar characters from the song as they all contribute to the baking of the magnificent Twelfth Night cake.
A trio of french hens bring baking powder
Six geese bring eggs, and lots of feathers too
Ten lords help carry the cake into the oven ready to bake
At the end of the story, there is a recipe included to bake your own cake at home, giving this book the potential to be a favorite Christmas story as well as a resource to be used every year in introducing a twelfth-night cake tradition to a family.

Characterfully illustrated by Pippa Curnick The Big Christmas Bake is a beautiful, lyrical, and gently humourous Christmas story for the whole family to enjoy. 


GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60382781
BOOKS A MILLION: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Big-Christmas-Bake/Fiona-Barker/9780711268142
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-big-christmas-bake-fiona-barker/1140982078
WALMART: https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Big-Christmas-Bake-Hardcover-9780711268142/603620163


MY TIDBITS

The Twelve Days of Christmas takes on an imaginative and very lively twist in this book made for the holidays.

Christmas may have come but there are there are twelve days left to celebrate, and that means there's a grand cake to be baked. Since baking a cake, especially such an amazing one, isn't an easy task, each day, animals bring along an ingredient or assistance. Soon, the cake is on its best way to make the celebration as amazing as it can be.

This read is packed with energy and excitement, living up to the atmosphere such a celebration requires. As each day passes, it's fun to see what will come next because it's sure to be something slightly unexpected and definitely tinted with a bit of humor. Some of the ingredients and such might be new to young listeners and require a bit of explaining, but that's not a bad thing as it opens up to learning and discussions. But this book is all about the fun, and there's plenty of that.

The illustrations are bright and pack just the right amount of zany-silliness. As a farmer, I was surprised at the milk cows (yaks???) but they are cute. It was a treat to see what each group was up to and giggles are guaranteed.

To wrap it all up, there is a recipe at the end and more than a little Holiday cheer. It's a cute read, which listeners are sure to enjoy.


You can discover more about Fiona Barker and her works at https://fionabarker.co.uk/

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