Strawberry Shortcake - The Sweet Smell of Strawberryland

by Michael J. Smollin

Strawberry Shortcake and her friends discover eight different fragrances, which the reader can also smell by scratching the coated pages.

20 pages, Spiral-bound

First published April 12, 1980

Reviews

[Hilarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because I just rediscovered this book in a box that was in my parents attic for about 30ish years (the inscription is dated 1984?!) and the STICKERS STILL SMELL. Plus, my daughter now loves it as much as I did when I was little.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spiral-bound board book from 1980. I bought this on-line and made the mistake of trying to smell one or two things, and just got a musty old book. I think it needs to go in my baking soda box (plastic box with baking soda on the bottom that I can seal books in—I’ve only tried it once, but it worked to get rid of the musty smell).

The illustrations are cute and colorful and the characters bring back happy childhood memories—I think I may have had this book as a kid. The narrative is a bit meta: Strawberry Shortcake is reading a scratch and sniff book to her friends, and then they’re in your book doing the sniffing. Don’t think about it too hard.

I am curious if any of the scents lasted (under the eau de mildew). I doubt it, but my Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the early 1980s almost all still have their fragrance, which is disturbing—what did they put on them??? Also, I wonder if they still make scratch ‘n sniff books? I feel like that was big when I was a kid in books and stickers, but I don’t think I’ve seen any new scented books in many years. But not like I was looking, so…