David Lucas
(Andersen Press)
(Andersen Press)
The Witch was alone for her birthday … again. So she baked a Cake Girl.
This lovely fantasy picture book is the story of a lonely witch who makes a Cake Girl for her birthday and then decides to boss her about and make her do a lot of chores before she eventually decides to eat her. But Cake Girl is not easily defeated and to save herself from being eaten, she decides to try to teach the witch how to be nice.
This is a lovely touching story about developing friendship and learning to trust people, and the magic of laughter. We are witness to the witch transformation from a lonely, grumpy character to a very fun-loving witch indeed.
David Lucas, on of the Big Picture’s Best New Illustrators, has a very distinctive style which suits this Halloween-esque story perfectly. I love his use of dark colours in some of the backgrounds (which are also present in another gorgeous book of his, Peanut) and the contrast between the green of the witch’s skin and the orange of the pumpkins and Cake Girl’s dress.
This is a really atmospheric book which will delight young readers at Halloween time, especially as Andersen Press have gone all out by producing a party kit linked to the book:
Fantastic fun!
