A Very Persnickety Cake Bake! The Perfect Birthday Recipe by Katy Hudson

BEAVER HAD ALWAYS LIKED EVERYTHING DONE PROPERLY.

EVERY PROJECT HE TOOK ON WAS DONE CAREFULLY, THOUGHTFULLY, AND ... PERFECTLY.

Since the next day is his birthday, Beaver has a persnickety plan for his cake. His vision is alternating chocolate and carrot layers swathed in dark chocolate frosting, glazed with idyllic caramel swirls, and artistically strewn with lots of sprinkles. But when his friends hear his punctilious plan, they doubt he can carry it off alone.

And then Rabbit speaks the words Beaver most fears....

"WE'LL ALL HELP!"

But curmudgeonly fussbudget Beaver recalls the old saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth," and tries to discourage Rabbit, Bird, Tortoise, and Squirrel from pitching in on his recipe, but his well-meaning friends make a mess of everything. Finally Beaver bars them from his kitchen and brusquely brushes his friends off with an "ARGHHHH!!"

His disappointed friends leave, taking their ingredients away, and Beaver gets down to business. He sifts and grates and beats and bakes.

His product is perfect.

But on his birthday, Beaver is abashed.

What's a perfect birthday party with nobody to come?

Perfection can't match friendship, in Katy Hudson's latest in series, The Perfect Birthday Recipe (Capstone Books, 2020), the next day Beaver has the best birthday ever as he and his buddies party down the next day on a less-than perfect cake, in a perfect parable of the old saw "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!" As in the other books in this highly-reviewed series, Hudson's bright and charmingly detailed artwork, done in full-page and spot-art style, pace the action, building to the subtle conclusion that most things are better done together.

Other jolly through-the-seasons stories in this series are Too Many Carrots, A Loud Winter's Nap (Fiction Picture Books), and The Golden Acorn. (see reviews here).