It's My Birthday

by Helen Oxenbury, Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)

Overview

What could be better than sharing a birthday cake with the friends who helped to bake it?

It’s one lucky toddler’s birthday, and of course there must be a cake. So the child asks some animal friends to gather ingredients, one by one: the chicken an egg, the bear some flour, the cat the butter and milk, the pig a pinch of salt, the dog some sugar, and the monkey a bunch of cherries for the top. After they all share the fun of making the cake, it’s even more fun to eat it! Helen Oxenbury’s winsome illustrations and simple, repetitive text make this an ideal gift for the youngest of children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763649708
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	06/08/2010
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	123,876
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	440L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

Editorial Reviews

Wanting to make a birthday cake, a youngster asks various animals to provide the ingredients, and they do . . . The soft watercolor illustrations are warm and gently humorous . . . A charming addition to preschool story times.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

One by one a host of animals offer ingredients when a child decides to bake a birthday cake. PW called the story "perfectly paced" and said that the "understated" watercolors "shine with the quiet resplendence of happy family life." Ages 2-up. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-K-Wanting to make a birthday cake, a youngster asks various animals to provide the ingredients, and they do. A chicken supplies the eggs; a bear, the flour; a cat, the butter and milk; a pig, the salt; a dog, the sugar; and a monkey, cherries for the top. The creatures then help the child make the cake, and help eat it, too. This is a wonderfully simple story. The soft watercolor illustrations are warm and gently humorous, particularly the depictions of the endearing animals, who stand on two legs and are just as childlike as their human friend. The preschooler's gender is nonspecific, which gives all children the opportunity to identify with the main character. A charming addition to preschool story times.-Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

School Library Journal

A toddler gathers the ingredients one by one and makes a cake for his birthday with the help of his animal friends. Without being cute or condescending, Oxenbury tells a cumulative story for the very young child with clear watercolors and a simple, cheerful text. The telling has a satisfying rhythm and repetition. It's my birthday and I'm going to make a cake, says the boy each time he names the ingredients he has and asks for the one he needs. The pictures are funny and surprising: the cat grabs the butter and milk from the refrigerator when no one's looking; the pig gets a pinch of salt from a friendly beaver family on a picnic; the monkey picks some cherries for the top of the cake. In the end the friends help the boy mix the cake, and he invites them all to the party to eat it.

Hazel Rochman