Happy Birthday, Alice Babette

by Monica Kulling, Qin Leng (Illustrator)

It’s Alice’s birthday! A beautiful spring afternoon in Paris ― what could be better? Little does she know that her friend has arranged some surprises! It’s Alice’s birthday! But her friend Gertrude seems to have forgotten. No matter, Alice goes out and enjoys her day just the same. A beautiful spring afternoon in Paris ― what could be better? Little does she know that her dear friend has a few surprises up her sleeve. While Alice spends the day walking around Paris ― riding a carousel in the park and watching a puppet show ― Gertrude turns her attention to the kitchen. She is determined to make a lavish dinner with all of Alice’s favorite things and write a poem to match the occasion. But the lure of the perfect poetic line proves to be too distracting, and just as Alice’s day takes an exciting and unexpected turn, Gertrude’s big dinner falls all to pieces. The poem turns out beautifully, of course, but the house is a bit of a mess. It’s a good thing Alice doesn’t mind cleaning up. And that she has such a good brownie recipe for their guests. Inspired by the lives of artist Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Monica Kulling’s warm and whimsical narration is perfectly balanced by Qin Leng’s bright and energetic illustrations. This is a sweetly joyful story of love, friendship and creative inspiration. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Biography, Friendship, LGBT, History, Food

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2016

About the author

Monica Kulling was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received a BA in creative writing from the University of Victoria. Monica Kulling has published twenty-six fiction and nonfiction books for children, including picture books, poetry, and biographies. She is best known for introducing biography to children just learning to read and has written about Harriet Tubman, Houdini, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart among others. Monica Kulling lives in Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

[Ginny]

Super charming. I wish there was any level of allusion that they were a couple and not just 'friends' but if this is what it takes to get a picture book about Alice and Gertrude published, welp.

[Taylor Kundel-Gower]

This book is so so so charming and gentle and I'm tickled that it exists. However, I believe that language is so powerful and so important that to describe Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas as "friends" erases their queer identities and the nature of their relationship. I think the word "partner" would do this book a lot of good.

[Philippa Dowding]

Happy Birthday to a wonderful, whimsical moment in time: a snapshot of the day Gertrude Stein wants to bake her partner, Alice B. Toklas, a birthday cake. Only trouble is ... Gertrude (really) can't cook. Sweet tale about a lovely friendship, with a dash of whimsy for good measure!

[cubbie]

I was so charmed when I saw this book and paged through it, picking it up to read to my daughter. But, as I started to read it out loud, my voice just choked on the word "friend" and my wife said it looked like I was about to cry. I suppose "friend" could be a more approachable word for young folks than "partner," "wife," "spouse," or whatever romantic term might be more accurate, but in my hunt for queerish books for my little one, that moment of invisibility broke my heart just a little bit. And then that was kind of confounded by the brownies at the end... The endnote that mentions Alice's cookbook and its famous brownie recipe (though without explaining what is notable about the brownies) but that doesn't mention that Alice and Gertrude were more than friends, was very troubling to me.

[Lynn]

Both the text and the illustrations are thoroughly charming. Not sure what kids will make of it since most of them will have never heard of the subjects of the story. But perhaps that isn't necessary since the tale of someone who becomes totally preoccupied will be enough. Many kids know people like that ;-)

Adult readers may be the real audience.

[Barbara]

Although it's doubtful that many young readers will be familiar with Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, on whom the story is based, that really doesn't matter since most of them will relate to having a friend or family member just like both of these women. After all, many adults have the best intentions but just get distracted or preoccupied by other, more important matters. I'd guess that many of us have--or are--those individuals who just have to finish one more page in a book or write something important down or add one more splash of color to our painting. It's also true that many of us forget to appreciate the hard work that goes into making our lives run so smoothly. As Gertrude comes to realize to her dismay, cooking is a lot harder than she thought it was. The illustrations, created with ink and then digitally colored, show off the beauty and adventurous nature of Paris where the two women lived. Even though Gertrude's plans to provide a splendid surprise for Alice don't work out, Alice ends up having plenty of adventures--or as she describes it, "a day of marvels" (unpaged)--as she meanders through the city. As I read the picture book, I reminded myself that we are responsible for our own happiness so if someone doesn't celebrate our special day, why not celebrate it ourselves and fill it with the things that bring us joy? Still, I wonder what Alice thought when she returned home and saw all that mess that she had to clean up. Maybe it is all about the attitude toward whatever task faces us.

[Luisa Knight]

Although children might not pick up on it, the story is about a gay couple (Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice Babette).

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[Jen]

Another fantastic historically inspired book from Canadian author Monica Kulling! This one is about Gertrude Stein and her muse, Alice B. Toklas. And, of course, Paris.

Qin Leng's illustrations are always a marvel and this is no exception. I have loved her rosy cheeked characters since A Flock of Shoes.

[Robin]

Sweet story about friendship. Not sure about kid appeal. Recommended for old souls ages 6-9.

[Danielle]

An unusual picture book and a great jumping off point for study of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas as well as for baking! I love that this shows both characters points of view—most unusual.

[Christy]

It’s Alice’s birthday! But her friend Gertrude seems to have forgotten. No matter, Alice goes out and enjoys her day just the same. A beautiful spring afternoon in Paris — what could be better? Little does she know that her dear friend has a few surprises up her sleeve.

While Alice spends the day walking around Paris — riding a carousel in the park and watching a puppet show — Gertrude turns her attention to the kitchen. She is determined to make a lavish dinner with all of Alice’s favorite things and write a poem to match the occasion.

But the lure of the perfect poetic line proves to be too distracting, and just as Alice’s day takes an exciting and unexpected turn, Gertrude’s big dinner falls all to pieces. The poem turns out beautifully, of course, but the house is a bit of a mess. It’s a good thing Alice doesn’t mind cleaning up. And that she has such a good brownie recipe for their guests.

Inspired by the lives of artist Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Monica Kulling’s warm and whimsical narration is perfectly balanced by Qin Leng’s bright and energetic illustrations. This is a sweetly joyful story of love, friendship and creative inspiration. (

[Jenny]

This book has lovely illustrations, but not enough context into the lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, nor Stein's poetry, which is alluded to but not evoked. I think it would do better to pair this one with Jonah Winters' picture book Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude is Gertrude, which does a fabulous job of evoking Gertrude's writing and lifestyle, for context.

[Amanda Brooke]

Sweet story about the writer Gertrude Stein and her friend Alice. I like their odd-coupleness and how Gertrude fails at cooking, but Babette still loves her.

[Jessie]

Fictionalized story of Alice Toklas and Gertrude Stein, talking about their very different gifts and the ways in which they try to show love.

[Kimberly]

The story is very sweet, and I love the illustrations. But if you're going to write a book about Gertrude and Alice, be brave enough to call them what they were.

[Kris]

Meh. I liked the illustrations, but I was annoyed that Gertrude and Alice were called "friends", rather than a couple, and I was far more annoyed than I should have been that Gertrude destroys the kitchen with her inept cooking and leaves the mess for Alice to clean up ON HER BIRTHDAY. Crappy birthday, Alice Babette.

[Lynn Davidson]

Alice Babette and Gertrude Stein lived together in Paris for forty years. That part is true. This story is imagined.
One morning Alice got up and was expecting to find surprises for her birthday. Gertrude seemed to have forgotten so Alice went for a walk through Paris, enjoying the day. They both were writers, but Alice took care of the house and the cooking so that Gertrude could focus on writing. What she didn’t know is that Gertrude planned to cook a special birthday dinner for her, although she didn’t know how. Things went wrong and Gertrude had to resort to another plan.
This is an entertaining and nicely illustrated story.

[Cheriee Weichel]

This book is delightfully charming. It is an imaginary vignette from the life of Alice Babette and Gertrude Stein. Alice wakes up on her birthday expecting a surprise, but it appears that Gertrude has forgotten. When she heads off for a walk through the streets of Paris, Gertrude gets to work to surprise Alice by cooking her favourite foods and writing her a special poem. Unfortunately, after the food is cooking, Gertrude gets lost in her poetry writing and the meal ends in a disaster.
Qin Leng's beautiful watercolour illustrations capture the essence of Paris and the characters of the two women.
I only wish that their relationship was more fully acknowledged. Kulling refers to them as friends. Even in the end notes where she says they lived together in Paris for forty years, there is no mention of it. I don't understand this and have to question why she didn't refer to them as partners or even spouses.

[Jana]

This is an interesting picture book that is a fictional story based upon the real-life friendship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. It is Alice's birthday, and Gertrude wants to put together a special dinner and write a poem for her friend. Unfortunately, Gertrude's inexperience in the kitchen winds up leading to disastrous results. I know that there are few, if any, of my students who are familiar with these literary personalities from the early twentieth century, but many kids would be able to appreciate the friendship angle. This book, with its warm narrative style and charming illustrations, could certainly spark interest into further research on these two women.

[Edward Sullivan]

This whimsical story, inspired by the lives of artist Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, depicts Gertrude earnestly but unsuccessfully trying to make a cake and compose a poem for Alice's birthday. Young readers will be unfamiliar with these women but they will appreciate their warm, affectionate friendship.

[Jo Oehrlein]

A fictional story of a birthday in the life of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein.

It's a story about friends who have very different gifts -- Gertrude writes and Alice cooks. For Alice's birthday, Gertrude tries to cook and it doesn't turn out so well. But the surprise party that night was a success anyway.

[Chelsea]

Unfortunately, I found this book to be lacking. While I am not quite sure what was lacking, I did feel as though something important was missing and could not shake the feeling as the book was read. This was not a bad book, it was just meh; all right.

[Miss Sarah]

It's Alice's birthday but has her roommate Gertrude forgotten. Alice sets out to explore the city for the day and Gertrude attempts to cook and write a poem for Alice. Both have adventures. Length makes it preschool or elementary.

[Rebecca Upjohn]

Delightful!

[Mills College Library]

Picture K9632h 2016

[Lawral]

Echoing many reviewers before me, this is a charming book. Or it would have been if it did not paint Alice and Gertrude as "friends."