Picture Book Spotlight: Apple Cake

Picture Book Spotlight is an original weekly post that will highlight relevant and/or popular picture books and suggest age groups and storytime themes for them. It will also include a mini-review.

Title: Apple Cake Authors: Julie Paschkis Pages:32 Audience: K-2 Themes: love, food, cooking, fantasy

Summary:                                                         
In this lovely valentine of a book, Julie Paschkis offers young readers a glimpse of the extraordinary world that can be hidden in the simplest of things. Alfonso loves his colorful, magical existence. He also loves the brilliant, beautiful Ida. But Ida, nose in a book, just doesn’t seem to notice. Can he win her heart with a cake of his own creation if the salt is gathered from the deep blue ocean, the butter from the summer sun, and flour like snowflakes from a night sky? An exquisitely illustrated story about imagination for children, but also a wonderful gift for lovestruck adults. (A treasured family recipe for apple cake included!)

My Thoughts: oh my gosh, so cute. I love the whimsical, colorful illustrations on the mostly white background! This would be a great food storytime selection, so long as you have some kind of treat afterwards lol. I like that it actually tells how to make a cake but the illustrations also tell a fantastical story. It would be fun to say "where did he get the salt?" and the kids can call out the answer based on the picture.