HELLO EVERYBODY!!!
I hope you have all had wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable, sun-soaked, family-filled, back porch cookout, hammock-lounging, s’more-making, firefly-chasing, star-gazing, memorable, happy summers!
I know the return of Perfect Picture Books means summer is over, but isn’t it wonderful to see each other again?! I have missed you all!
We have so much to look forward to this fall! Would You Read It will be back next week. We have finishing prizes for the blog tours. There will be episodes of Oh Susanna (if anyone sends in questions!) and Short & Sweets. The annual writing contests are just around the corner. Wow!
But Rome wasn’t built in a day! 🙂
So for now, let’s just do Perfect Picture Books!
I know many of you continued PPBF throughout the summer, so anyone who would like to add their summer titles with post-specific links to this week or next week’s PPBF list is MOST welcome to! It would be great to have them ALL on the master list!
But now, without further ado, I am absolutely thrilled to present today’s Perfect Picture Book, brand new from my talented friend, Penny!
Title: A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale
Written By: Penny Parker Klostermann
Illustrated By: Ben Mantle
Random House Books For Young Readers, September 5, 2017, fiction
Suitable For Ages: 3-7
Themes/Topics: fractured fairy tale, perseverance, humor, cooking
Opening: “Although William lived in the magical land of fairy tales, he preferred pastries to princesses, kitchens to kingdoms, and recipes to the Royal Reporter.”
Brief Synopsis: William struggles to fit into the magical land of fairy tales, more interested in cooking up fabulous dishes than fantastical stories. Will he find his happily ever after?
Links To Resources: invent, cook & serve your own magical fairy tale recipes using fairy tale ingredients (Snow White’s apple, Cinderella’s pumpkin, the Three Bears’ porridge, etc.); set up a fairy tale restaurant (like The Brick House and The Three Bears Bistro in the story) with a colorful sign and beautifully set tables and serve your customers; write articles about fairy tale characters or interview famous fairy tale characters or create recipes for the Royal Reporter; read this book with other fractured fairy tales like Little Red Writing by Joan Holub, Hensel And Gretel Ninja Chicks by Corey Rosen Schwartz and Rebecca Gomez, and The True Story of The Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and discuss the different ways the authors fractured the tales; write your own fractured fairy tale!
Why I Like This Book: This story is creative and entertaining, full of fun language and delightful details. While most fractured fairy tales are a new twist on one familiar tale, this story plays cleverly with a whole bunch, including The Three Bears, Snow White, Cinderella, The Gingerbread Man, Jack and The Beanstalk and others, tying them all together with a boy who loves to cook and create recipes. Young readers will relate to William who means well and whose heart is in the right place, but who still manages to do the wrong thing! Haven’t we all been there?! 🙂 The art is colorful, engaging, full of fun details and a perfect complement to the story. All around a delicious treat of a read…(spoiler alert :)) topped off with a happily ever after!!!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
AND!!! This just in!!! The lovely Penny is offering a giveaway of a copy of A Cooked-Up Fairy Tale! Leave a comment below by Sunday September 10 at 5 PM Eastern and you will be entered in the totally random raffle for the book!!! 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
(I’m out of practice with this, so here’s hoping I didn’t mess it up!!!)
Have a wonderful wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂 So glad to be able to say, “See you all next week!” 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Susanna, I am so glad you’re back and that you had a great summer of book launches and blog tours! Penny’s new book is fun and so inventive.Retelling fairy tales through their recipes – genius. I love Ben Mantle’s illustrations, too. I want Judy’s office.
Thanks, Maria. Judy’s office is the BEST, isn’t it! She has the perfect job…well until someone like William comes along. But it all ended happily 😀
Welcome back. What a great PB to begin with. I love fractured fairy tales.
I love them, too, Norah! I’d love to write another one some day…now to find that perfect idea 😀
That’s what we’re all chasing! It’s great when they just find us. 🙂
Looks like a FUN book!
Thanks! It was definitely fun to write 😀
I can’t wait to read Penny’s new book. Looks like a book kids will have a lot of fun with. Love her wordplay and the beautiful illustrations!
Thanks, Pat! The illustrations are delightful. I feel so lucky to have had Ben Mantle for both books!
This sounds like such a fun book. I look forward to reading it.
I hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it!
Penny’s new book looks like such a tasty treat!
Welcome back PPBF friends and HOORAY Susanna for welcoming us all to fall.
Thanks, Cathy! PPBF has been a staple along my journey because it’s an amazing resource for my reading list! HOORAY for Susanna in so many ways!
Welcome back Susanna! What a fun book to start off the fall season of picture book reading. Brings to mind Jane Yolen & Heidi Stemple’s fairytale cookbook, which is a fun treat for kids of all ages.
That is a wonderful book! It would be great to pair both books in a classroom.
Hooray for PPBF! And hooray for another wonderful PB to add to my reading list. Sounds like a delicious story!
I hope it suits your taste 😉
I put this book on hold the other day…can’t wait to read! It’s on order at my library.
Wonderful! I love that you have it on hold and that it will be available at your library 😀
This book looks very fun! I love the idea of using several different fairy tale characters. Looking forward to seeing this on the shelves!
Thanks, Carleen. It was fun to decide which fairy tales could play a part in the story.
This one sounds great.
And I could use all the cooking inspiration I can get. (My family is sick of me saying “Hey, how about I make eggs for dinner?”)
Ha! Maybe you’ll get some new menu ideas! Or a fairy godmother to cook for you!
My fairy godmother can’t be bothered.
Hurray! So happy to have you back, Susanna! And I LOVE Penny’s newest book…and the giveaway is just icing on the cake!
Thanks, Vivian! Icing and giveaways are two of my favorite things 😀
Annnnd…we’re back! YAY! Can’t wait to read Penny’s book, so fun to see a mashup of tales. Happy reading everyone!
Thanks, Keila! I love everything fairy tales…fractured tales, mashedup tales! All of it!
Susanna!!! What an awesome review! And I don’t even have to come up with resources because your ideas are like my own happily-ever-after! I’ll whip them up into easily accessible activities and add them to my website! Gee! You’re my fairy godmother! Thanks! And Thanks for being a part of the celebration for A COOKED-UP FAIRY TALE! ❤
I love that Penny’s new book kicks off the season! Saving the best for first!
I love that it kicked off the season too, Sandy! What fun!
I’m still in summer brain – hope to join the convo on my blog next week! Penny’s newest looks like another fun one.
Summer brain is necessary, Wendy! Totally necessary! Hope you like COOKED-UP when you get a chance to read it 😀
What a coincidence! I also prefer kitchens to kingdoms! There are crumbs and floor pies in there all the time!! Oh yeah, William. Kitchens rock.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Cupcake’s Kingdom is a kitchen, right??? Glad you and William think alike 😀
I think Penny’s books are a must read for anyone who wants to write picture books as well as read fun books with kids. I’d have no problem hearing “again!” from my kids after we finish her books.
“Again” from kids is my goal…so you’ve made my day with your comment, Danielle 😀
(I’m sorry if this is a repeat comment.)
This book looks like a lot of fun, and if it’s as good as THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT, I’m sure I’ll love it! I have it on hold at the library, but I’d love to win my own copy (not that I wouldn’t buy a copy, of course).
Thanks, Rebecca! We are mutual fans of each other’s work it seems! I love your books, too!
I’m always sad to see summer go, but happy Perfect Picture Book Friday is back! Penny’s new book looks great. I can’t wait to read it!
Thanks, Heather. I’m glad PPBF is back, too. It’s so much fun to check out everyone’s perfect picture book picks!
So cute! My youngest showed some skill in the kitchen today – maybe this cooked up fairy tale is just what she needs to encourage her:)
No doubt! 🙂