Sub Chefs: Martha Bakes A Cake adapted by Karen Barss and Raye Lankford

HELEN IS FEELING DOWN IN THE DUMPS.

HER DRAWING DID NOT WIN THE ART CONTEST.

Wanting to do something to cheer Helen up, Mom starts to make her a cake, but then a phone call brings a rush order at work, and Mom has to dash off, leaving Martha and Skits alone and wondering how to finish the job.

Dogs may be best friends, but they are not ideally suited for baking cakes. Martha and Skits bone up on the process by watching a DVD on cake making. Now they wag their tails and get busy. First, they must assemble ingredients.

Skits grabs a milk carton from the fridge with his teeth, but the resulting holes just cause a leak all over the floor. He tries to get out a carton of eggs with the same result. The two dogs head over to neighbor Mrs. Parkinson's house to borrow more eggs, this time holding one a each gingerly in their mouths.

MARTHA AND SKITS WALK HOME HOLDING THE EGGS.

A SQUIRREL RUNS BY.

BOTH DOGS DROP THEIR EGGS TO BARK. (OOPS!)

"BUMMER" SAYS MARTHA.

Mrs. Parkinson pitches in, loading Martha's wagon with new supplies. But back at home the dogs have a little trouble with the mixing process.

IF ONLY I HAD THUMBS..." MARTHA MUSES.

Everything winds up spilled on the floor. But without paws, er, pause for reconsideration of this project, the dogs happily mix the batter with their paws on the floor, inadvertently incorporating a few extrinsic ingredients--eggshells, dog hair, and assorted fluff from the carpet--into the mix. Grabbing Martha's dog bowl for a baking container, they remember one little culinary item they've forgotten: they have to bake the cake, which involves getting it into and out of the oven, again sans thumbs. Martha solves that problem by calling on Howie the mailman to put the cake in and phoning a pizza delivery man to arrive just in time to take it out. Just as Skits and Martha are admiring their "cake," cooling on the counter, Mom and Helen arrive home from school.

"SURPRISE!" SAYS MARTHA."

In the latest addition to this Martha Speaks Green Light Readers series, Helen's blue mood becomes history, in Susan Meddaugh and company's latest, a canine kitchen caper titled Martha Speaks: Martha Bakes a Cake Reader (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012). There's even a recipe appended for "Yummy Chocolate Cake" for young readers to try, this one without eggshells and dog hair!