CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (PICTURE BOOK)

A Book Recommendation by

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy

If you ever have a birthday party you should invite Jack. Jack gives the best presents. In CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE (Schwartz & Wade-Random House, 2010) Jack takes a cake to the Princess’s birthday party.

At first when Jack gets invited to the Princess’s birthday party he doesn’t know what present he will give the Princess because he is poor and doesn’t have much to give. But Jack is clever and he comes up with a really clever present. He makes a special birthday cake to give to the Princess.

Jack is a really good baker and he works really hard and makes a really pretty cake. It has two layers and candles and “happy birthday” words and a giant strawberry on top. It’s so pretty you almost wouldn’t eat it but then you would because it’s a cake and cakes are for eating no matter how pretty they are. Jack has to walk a far way to the party and he is so excited the whole way to the party because he can’t wait to give the cake to the Princess.

But on the way to the Princess’s party Jack has lots of troubles. Blackbirds eat the “happy birthday” words and Jack has to pay a troll with one of the cake’s layers so that the troll will let Jack cross the bridge. Then Jack goes into a really dark and creepy woods and he has to use up the birthday candles so he can see where he is going. Then a dancing bear eats the rest of the cake because I guess dancing makes bears hungry. By the time Jack gets to the Princess’s party all that’s left of the pretty cake is the giant strawberry. Do you know what happens then? Jack finds out that the Princess is allergic to strawberries so he doesn’t have any birthday present at all to give to the Princess.

So Jack has no present for the Princess and everybody knows you have to bring a present to a birthday party especially if it’s a birthday party for a princess. Just when you think Jack isn’t going to have a present to give the Princess, he does. Jack ends up giving the Princess a present she likes better than all the other presents she gets. Do you want to know what the present is? You can beg all you want but I’m not going to tell you, even if today is your birthday. You’ll have to read CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE yourself.

Here is a list of who will like this book:

Readers who like cake.

Readers who like good stories.

Readers who have birthdays.

The end. Good-bye.