The Birthday Party Cake: All about Welcoming Differences with Pickle and Bree by Alison Reynolds
Ill. by Mikki Butterley. The Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN
9781760067236
(Age:5-8) This is one of the first books in the Pickle and
Bree's Guide to Good Deeds series. Aimed at young school
children who are developing their social skills and learning to
regulate their emotions and behaviours, the series is upfront about
its purpose. Each book features a Guide to Good Deeds at the back,
which provides dot-point tips for children based on the focus theme
of the book (eg. 'Listen to what other people say. Try to understand
what they are saying, even if you don't agree with them').
This instalment is all about recognising and welcoming differences
in ideas and likes and understanding that even friends can be very
different from each other. Pickle, a brown bear, is planning a
birthday party for his panda bear friend, Jason. Bree, his human
best friend, decides to help. She wants to make it the best party
ever, but her ideas of the best party ever are slightly different to
Pickle's ideas. The honey cake he has just baked is overthrown by
Bree because 'everybody knows that chocolate is the best for
birthdays'. Bree declares their favourite bear game 'not a real
birthday party game' and insists they play eye-spy instead. When she
finally realises that Jason is not enjoying his birthday party, Bree
reinstates the honey cake and the game of Bear Bump. This reflects
young children's expectations that their friends will want to play
the same game as they do and is relevant to the issues they have in
their social relationships.
The soft, pastel illustrations give a timeless, gentle feel to the
book and there are textural touches, which provide depth and make
you want to reach out and touch the pages. The characters are cute,
cuddly and well characterised through the illustrations, which will
engage children. The text itself is quite long and may be a
challenge for some younger children; however, it provides lots of
material for discussion. This will be a useful series for teachers
and parents to use as a conversation starter around specific social
skills and challenges.
Nicole Nelson