Welcome to Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

It’s birthday month here on Blueberry Hill!

I am not making this up. We have 7 family birthdays in April, plus 5 of my best friends have April birthdays as well!

So what better time to share a delightful book about baking?

Title: The Bakery Dragon and the Fairy Cake

Written & Illustrated By: Devin Elle Kurtz

ISBN#: 978-0593710999

Publisher: Knopf Books For Young Readers, October 7, 2025

Suitable For Ages: 2-8

Themes/Topics: making mistsakes, perseverance/determination, trying something new

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

Opening:

“Like all dragons, Ember loved gold.

Warm, toasty, tasty gold.”

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

Brief Synopsis: [from the publisher] “Ember is in charge while the baker takes a trip and he’s excited to show what he can do! When an opinionated fairy princess swoops in demanding a cake, he eagerly agrees. So what if he’s only baked bread before? How hard can it be?”

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

Links To Resources: Easy Bread-In-A Bag Recipe you can do with young children!; cake baking with kids

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

Why I Like This Book: Ember (definitely one of the most adorable dragons you’ll ever see!) has great confidence in his ability to bake bread. And why not? He has tons of experience, and the feedback from his tasters is always positive! So when Princess Turnip asks him to bake a birthday cake for the Fairy Queen he is sure he can do it, even though he has never heard of birthday cake bread before. Princess Turnip’s attempts to explain what a birthday cake is lead to hilarious misunderstsandings – a little like Amelia Bedelia in that Ember misinterprets what Princess Turnip means – leading to one disastrous attempt after another. Just when Ember’s confidence has fallen to an all-time low, and he’s ready to admit defeat, Princess Turnip whisks him off to the library, reminding him that what he lacks is not ability, but a recipe! This time, Ember produces an actual cake. And he enjoys the experience so much that the little bakery expands to include cakes as well as bread. Young readers will come away from the story inspired to bake and with the understanding that everyone needs a little help to learn something new. The illustrations, many with beautifully saturated color and others in lovely shades of yellow and gold are engaging and appealing (and will probably make you want cake 😊) A fun title for any book shelf!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊

text and illustration copyright Devin Elle Kurtz 2025, Knopf Books

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! 😊