Bake Sale

Bake Sale Sara Varon

Cupcake owns the Sweet Tooth bakery and is in a bit of a baking rut. He needs to try something new and shake it up a bit. Then he discovers that his best friend Eggplant knows Turkish Delight, who is only the GREATEST pastry chef in the world. Eggplant invites Cupcake to Istanbul with him, but Cupcake can't afford it. In order to earn extra money, Cupcake starts selling baked goods at several different events around town and working extra hours.

I love Sara Varon's work. Robot Dreams blew me away. It's even on our summer reading list for rising 5th graders, which is pretty impressive when you consider that Robot Dreams is wordless.

Bake Sale has words (and recipes!). I loved watching Cupcake go through the morning routine of baking and making coffee before opening. I liked how Cupcake and Eggplant hung out at the diner and I loved Cupcake's band. I really enjoyed the whole subplot with the band. (Cupcake has to quit the band in order to sell more backed goods.) And, in typical Varon style, instead of having a Brooklyn inhabited by Chickens or Dogs, this time Brookyn was filled with anthropomorphic food.

I also love how Varon's illustration style-- walking and talking animals and food, in a washed out pastel palate could easily be too twee and cutesy, but doesn't go there.

Another book to just cement my Varon love.


Book Provided by... my local library

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Graphic Novels all over the place

I told you I'd get back to kidlit. Man, I really am obsessed with First Second.

We'll start with the wonderful Robot Dreams by Sara Varon.

This is a heartbreaking word-less graphic novel about a doomed friendship. Dog wants a friend, so mail orders a build-your-own robot kit. Dog and Robot have lots of fun together--mainly reading books and watching movies from the library.

Then Dog takes Robot to the beach. After swimming and lying in the sun all day, Robot has rusted and can't move. Dog leaves him there. Dog studies up on robot repair, but by the time he gets back to the beach, it is closed.

Robot spends the winter, buried under snow, dreaming of different adventures. Dog tries (unsuccessfully) to make new friends to replace the one he's lost.

Bittersweet and lovely.

Full Disclosure: ARC provided by publisher FirstSecond at ALA.

A.L.I.E.E.E.N.: Archives of Lost Issues and Earthly Editions of Extraterrestrial Novelties by Lewis Trondheim

Oh man, this is weird.

Let's just say it starts off with two ugly/cute aliens skipping along an alien meadow. The blue one has is eyes closed and immediately skips into a tree with two unfortunately placed branches and gouges his eyes out...

Because I have a very sick sense of humor, I found it hilarious.

Where this isn't wordless, all the words are in an alien language, so it might as well be. There are several short, interconnected adventures that involve lots of alien violence and poop.

It is weird and bizarre, but I liked it.

The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar. Illustrated by Emmanuel Guilbert

I'm torn on the age range on this. My library puts it as adult, but I think it's more of a late jr high/ high school on up. (SLJ says it's 10th grade+)

Anyway, in this Victorian London, mummies (the Egyptian kind) can walk and talk and feel emotion, even though they've been dead for milennia. This is a love story between Imhotep IV and the daughter of the professor who oversaw his excavation.

An afternoon stroll goes horribly awry and leads in a poisoned police officer, a kidnapped Queen Victoria, and the threat of Imhotep being placed in an exhibit case at the museum for the foreseeable future.

Along the way, we deal with culture and time clash, fathers and sons, and fathers and daughters. It's short, sweet, and packs a lot of punch, which is superbly delivered with Guilbert's muted watercolors that perfectly capture not only the sweetness of love and the time and place...