It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday!

Are you ready for some fun?

Wait ’til you see this! 😊

Title: There Are No Bears In This Bakery

Written & Illustrated By: Julia Sarcone-Roach

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, January 8, 2019

Suitable For Ages: 3-5 (although I think older kids would like it too!)

Themes/Topics: language fun (homonyms, onomatopoeia), mystery, humor

text and illustration copyright Julia Sarcone-Roach, 2019, Alfred A/ Knopf

Opening:
“There are no bears in Little Bear Bakery.
I’m the whiskers of this nieghborhood.
And if it flutters, scurries, or scampers here,
I know about it.

The name is Muffin.
And this is my tale.”

text and illustration copyright Julia Sarcone-Roach, 2019, Alfred A/ Knopf

Brief Synopsis: It may be called the Little Bear Bakery, but there are no bears here. Not on Muffin the cat’s watch! But one night, what is that sound? Not a mouse. Not the raccoons. Not the bats! Grrrrrrrrrr! Who’s there?

text and illustration copyright Julia Sarcone-Roach, 2019, Alfred A/ Knopf

Links To Resources:
The book mentions “tale” and “tail.” What other homophones can you think of?
The books says Muffin is “on the case” which is both literal and figurative – talk about what literal and figurative mean. Can you think of other examples?
The books uses onomatopoeia in several places: “scratch, scratch, squeak“, “clang crash crunch crunch“, “snip snip flap flap aaahhhhh“, “grrrrrr“, and “purr” – can you guess what those sounds describe without reading the story or looking at the pictures? What words would you use to make those animal noises? Can you think of other examples of onomatopoeia?

text and illustration copyright Julia Sarcone-Roach, 2019, Alfred A/ Knopf

Why I Like This Book: This book is so much fun! Muffin the cat is the protector of the Little Bear Bakery and the detective on the case in this story of a strange noise in the night. Muffin naps in various sunny spots during the day, but at night she’s on the job. She knows all the normal night noises and who they belong to. But one night, she hears a strange noise and being the inquisitive (you know what they say about cats 😊) and fearless cat that she is, she goes to investigate, and finds the biggest mouse she’s ever seen! She is surprised, the mouse is surprised (it’s actually a baby bear), and her tail is the most surprised 😊 The growling turns out to be a hungry tummy, so naturally, Muffin feeds the baby bear chocolate cake, cookies, and donuts, as one would 😊 And then comes another, bigger growl. . . The characters are cute, and the facial expressions are wonderful. The illustrations are acrylic, paint, cut paper, and markers with a palette of blues, black, orange, and yellow that makes for beautiful, shadowy night scenes. The text and the illustrations are full of humor (including the endpapers – the front one shows a fully stocked case of beautifully decorated pastries and the end one shows the same case empty but for crumbs and sprinkles and a mouse.) Start to finish this book is delightful and fun and is sure to be a favorite with young readers!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog 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!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊