A Cake for Herbie: With Audio Recording

by Petra Mathers, Petra Mathers (Illustrator)

Overview

Lottie's friend Herbie has a special way with words...and it takes someone just as special to appreciate him. Will his originality shine through at the big poetry contest, where the winner brings home a prize cake? Find out as Herbie takes center stage in Petra Mathers' funny, touching new picture book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481442794
Publisher:	Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/17/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	34 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Petra Mathers is the author and illustrator of many children’s books, including her beloved Lottie series. Lottie’s New Beach Towel was Book of the Year for Parenting Magazine, and Lottie’s New Friend was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and won the Silver Medal from the New York Society of Illustrators. She lives in Astoria, Oregon.

Read an Excerpt

Share a poem and a piece of cake with Lottie and Herbie!

Editorial Reviews

The winsome duck-and-chicken duo is in town shopping for groceries when they spy an announcement for a poetry contest-which Herbie enters. "Mathers's droll, economical text and vibrant visuals combine seamlessly to portray Herbie's anticipation, anxiety, humiliation and grateful sense of belonging," said PW. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Lottie's friend Herbie is eager to enter the poetry contest. The cake for the winner is Herbie's motivation. Soon he has decided to write poems about food, "one for each letter of the alphabet." Unfortunately the contest audience is not impressed. Herbie is downcast as he leaves the stage but is befriended by a restaurant crew who not only enjoys food as much as he does, but also speak in rhyme. When Herbie shares his A to Z poetry about food, they give him a gift of a cake. Herbie hurries home to share his news and the cake with Lottie. The cartoon strip layout of the charming and humorous illustrations is age-appropriate. Lottie and Herbie ride a motor scooter home from grocery shopping. The cookies purchased at the market are called Quacks. Herbie's terrible dreams the night before the contest show him tied up on stage and include his duck beak tied shut. The book is a perfect child and adult read-aloud or a classroom and teacher read-aloud. Problems are resolved and the ending is happy. The picture storybook is a companion to other Lottie stories. 2000, An Anne Schwartz Book/Atheneum, $15.00. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Jacki Vawter

Children's Literature

PreS-Gr 2-Inspired by a contest poster that offers a cake for the best poem and encouraged by his friend Lottie the hen, Herbie the duck decides to enter. He proudly composes verses about foods, from A to Z, but, alas, his recitation is ridiculed by the audience on the night of the competition. Mortified, he slips away from the auditorium and hides in an alley outside the Ship's Inn restaurant. Luckily, he is discovered by the establishment's jovial cooks and waiters, all of whom love rhymes about food and appreciate his talent. He is fed lavishly and then presented with a freshly baked cake to take home and share with Lottie. The writing is lively and clever, with amusing word pairings and a gentle, satisfying plot. Bright, cartoon watercolor illustrations in a comic-strip style format are full of life and fun.-Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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