Snickerdoodle Takes the Cake

by Ethan Long

Overview

When Snickerdoodle gets up before the rest of the family, he is thrilled to find one of Mom’s Famous Lemon Poppy Seed Cakes. Unfortunately it has a note on it that says "Do Not Touch." In this test of his willpower, Snickerdoodle will attempt to bend the rules, and it will not go well for him. But Snickerdoodle will also use his brainpower to devise a plan that just might save the day. A charismatic clan of chinchillas confronts everyday problems in this humorous story of family life and foibles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823439270
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	39 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ethan Long has created dozens of children's books and has won a Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal. Pug received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. He lives in Orlando, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

"a realistic look at problem-solving and making things right."—Kirkus Reviews
 
"The colorful illustrations are large and the characters are animated. The size of the pictures and the small amount of text makes this a perfect book for young listeners. The anticipation of whether or not Snickerdoodle will touch the cake will delight children. A great selection for storytimes and one-on-one reads."—School Library Journal
 
"Soft digital lines give the whole chinchilla family touchably textured fur, and Mom's Famous Lemon Poppy Seed Cake looks luscious in pastel yellow and pink."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

10/01/2017
PreS-Gr 1— Snickerdoodle is a young chinchilla who cannot resist his mother's Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Buttercream Icing. She has made a beautiful one, but it is for his grandmother's birthday and thus is off-limits. The wonderful aroma perks him up. He would love a little taste but his smart mother left a "Do Not Touch!" sign on it. Clever Snickerdoodle thinks a smell would be okay because smelling it isn't touching. And he rationalizes that the note doesn't say anything about not trying one tiny crumb. Unfortunately, this crumb is all it takes to send him over the edge. Things quickly go downhill from there, and his hand winds up in the middle of the cake. Snickerdoodle's mother isn't happy when she sees the destroyed confection. She feels slightly defeated when she spies her other two children attacking what's left of the demolished treat. Now it's up to Snickerdoodle and his siblings to make things right. The end result may not be perfect but their intentions are good. This is a fun story about an animal family and how they tackle one of life's problems. The colorful illustrations are large and the characters are animated. The size of the pictures and the small amount of text makes this a perfect book for young listeners. The anticipation of whether or not Snickerdoodle will touch the cake will delight children. VERDICT A great selection for storytimes and one-on-one reads.— Barbara Spiri, Southborough Library, MA

School Library Journal

2017-08-02
A young chinchilla who just can't resist temptation comes up with a way to make amends.Children (and adults!) will totally understand how Snickerdoodle feels when faced with the irresistible lure of his mother's "Famous Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Buttercream Icing." And if they don't have personal experience, Long's digital illustrations make the small creature's feelings perfectly clear. Yes, the cake is marked with a "Do Not Touch" note. But even Snickerdoodle's imagined picture of his mother as a forked-tongue, horned monster surrounded by fire and screaming "STAY AWAY FROM the CAKE" can't stop him from rationalizing that the note didn't say not to "try one tiny crumb." Resistance is utterly futile after that, and though Snickerdoodle tries (hysterically) to control his wayward hand, he can't control the tripping hazard that is his cat. Cliffhangers on many of the spreads lead readers to frantically turn the pages as each "But…" leads to yet more disaster for Snickerdoodle. The three siblings' solution is perfectly in tune with what readers might do, and their results are believably childlike and completely satisfactory to their Na Na, whose birthday they are celebrating. While the male chinchillas in the anthropomorphic family are grayish, all the females have eyelashes and a slightly pink cast to their fur. Though Snickerdoodle fails to resist gluttony with either cake, this remains a realistic look at problem-solving and making things right. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews