A Piece of Cake

by LeUyen Pham

a delightful story about generosity, creativity, and improvisation

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Friendship, Childrens, Food, Humor, Birds

Paperback

First published May 27, 2014

About the author

LeUyen Pham is the illustrator of many books for children, including God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Princess in Black series and Aunt Mary’s Rose by Douglas Wood. LeUyen Pham lives in California.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 STARS This is so cute and FUN and unexpected. Totally the sort of picture book I needed right now. I've been growing a bit weary of recent picture books that seem more aimed toward adults rather than speaking to the sense of fun and imagination that is part of a child's world. This book felt like the perfect antidote :-) I originally checked it out because my youngest loves baking so I've been looking at all the cake/baking books at the library, but this ended up being much more than just a book with a cute mouse baking a cake. It has more to do with gathering the ingredients. And, it's an unexpected journey. Each friend the mouse meets wants a piece of cake and offers to trade something for it... now, you'd think the cow would trade milk but instead she trades... a fly swatter; the bear doesn't trade honey from his hive, he trades.... a cork! I love this little trick on your expectations. Then, on the way back, mouse needs more ingredients to make the cake again (by the time all his friends had a bite, there was none left for the originally intended recipient!) and the unexpected uses for the objects traded are so creative. I don't want to say too much and spoil it, but we were really entertained. The only reason I don't give a full five stars is I felt a little bad about the beekeeping practice, but otherwise it's charming ;-)

[Morton Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cartoony | Anthropomorphic | Colorful (Appeal terms from NoveList) - Hilary

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: It was Little Bird's birthday. Mouse, who was a very kind mouse, made her a cake. He worked the whole morning through and used up everything in his pantry.

Premise/plot: On the way to Little Bird's house, Mouse meets a handful of animals. Each one he meets--a chicken, a squirrel, a bear, a cow--wants a piece of cake. Each one is willing to trade for it. So by the time he gets to his friend's house, Mouse has no cake and a 'random' assortment of junk: a cork, a wire, a net, a flyswatter. But Little Bird is CLEVER and knows how to get another cake--even though Little Bird's pantry is empty!

My thoughts: I love the unexpectedness of the second swaps. Little Bird has a unique way of problem-solving. And it may not be the adult-reader's way of problem solving! Overall, I enjoyed this one!

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kind little Mouse has made a birthday cake for his friend Little Bird. He sets off to deliver the cake, but meets other friends who ask for a piece. Pham sets up readers to expect that Mouse will gather the expected ingredients along the way: eggs, milk, honey. But with each page turn, Mouse's friends offer something completely unexpected in return.

A Piece of Cake was honored as a finalist in the Northern California Book Awards this year. I was honored to be part of the children's award committee. Here is part of their description of this delightful story:

Piece by piece, Mouse trades away the cake until he has none left, arriving at Little Bird’s house only with an odd assortment of things... As they walk back to Mouse’s house to make another cake, they find each friend surrounded by trouble. Once again, Pham expertly manages page turns to surprise readers with the solutions that Little Bird cleverly suggests.

I adore the retro feel of Pham's artwork and the story is so much fun to read aloud. Little kids will love the patterned surprises, and older kids will have fun with the clever twists and enjoy the message about teamwork and creative thinking.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Piece of Cake by LeUyen Pham tells the tale of Mouse, who made a birthday cake for his clever friend, Bird. On his way to deliver it, other animals ask him to trade a piece of the cake for something they have. Since Mouse is so kind- he can't say no to any of the trades, even though he doesn't think Bird will want any of the items. Will Bird be upset when Mouse shows up at his door?

What makes this book so great is that it seems predictable, but it isn't. You think you know what every animal is going to trade for a piece of cake, but you don't. Kids will have a blast looking at the pictures and trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

The vibrant illustrations and Mouse's facial expressions make this a book that will be fun to read over and over again. The predictable parts allow for a younger kid or sibling to chime in.

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute story for my 7-year-old. Mouse baked Bird a cake for her birthday but as she went to deliver it she was stopped by other animals. Each one gave Mouse something in exchange for a slice of cake. When Mouse arrived at Bird's house, the cake was gone. Mouse couldn't make another one because he'd used all his baking supplies but Bird had a plan. As they walked back to Mouse's house, they traded different supplies to each animal in exchange for something to put in the cake. My child was surprised and delighted to see the trades weren't what he expected.

[Susan Dove Lempke · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book to use in storytime with 4-6 year-olds! The story goes along in a sweetly predictable way and then gets very interesting as it goes in reverse. That age group loves to predict and find it hilarious when their predictions turn out not to be true, thanks to the author's inventive storyline.

[Rebecca Gomez · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's one thing to be "a very kind mouse," but that shouldn't make you a pushover. The solution to this story was clever, but the first half of the story just seemed like it was all orchestrated to fit the clever ending.

[Dana Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical, smart, and funny. This was one of my kids' favorite books when they were younger. They really enjoyed the creative ways in which the bird saved the day.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The other animals manipulate Mouse into giving away the cake he made for Little Bird piece by piece.

Having spent all morning baking Little Bird a birthday cake and used all the ingredients in his pantry, Mouse sets out for Little Bird’s house. Along the way, he encounters four other animals who take advantage of his kind, non-confrontational nature and convince him to trade a slice of cake for random pieces of junk despite the fact they all are surrounded by items of value.

Unable to say no, Mouse arrives at Little Bird’s house distraught with a useless collection of odds and ends and without any cake. Luckily, Little Bird is clever and convinces the animals to trade some necessary ingredients for a new cake for the worthless items that had been traded to Mouse for the first cake.

Mouse and Little Bird then bake a new cake, which they share with the animals who had eaten the first cake. So, all’s well that ends well. Or is it?

The second half of story resolved the problem created in the first half, but it didn’t address Mouse’s being taken advantage of by others and his inability to say no, and it failed to tackle the misconception that being "kind" means giving in to others. One can be kind and set boundaries and say "no." The story also never mentions how the other animals deliberately cheated Mouse by "trading" him miscellaneous junk that was laying around instead of making a fair exchange for something of equal value.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generous mouse makes a cake for his friend, Bird's birthday. Then, on his way to Bird's he meets many animals who would love a piece of cake and are willing to trade interesting things in exchange.

This story really wants you to predict what's going to happen, and then changes it all up on you! Which I liked, also the clever solution and that it encourages generosity. I did find one element disturbing, the chicken giving eggs for cake. Think about it. Now think again. What is an egg to a chicken? Yup! This chicken just gave two of it's children to be made into cake for it to eat. I like to bake, I know eggs are pretty critical to cakes, and that most of us use unfertilized eggs, so they can't be chickens anyway. But the chicken is bothering to sit on the eggs in the beginning, which means they are trying to hatch them. Yes, I know this is way bigger of a deal than probably needs to be made of this, but I do think a different ingredient would have been a better choice for chicken to give.

Content notes: None other than the above mentioned cannibalism issue.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mouse makes a cake for Bird. But on the way to give Bird the cake, many other creatures see the delicious cake and ask Mouse for a slice. Kind-hearted Mouse decides Bird would most likely share, and agrees to trade a slice of cake for various items. But so many pieces get traded, there's no cake for Mouse to give Bird, just a very odd collection of items. Bird appreciates Mouse's kindness and the two set out to see if they can make something out of the odd items.

If you are trying to get readers to think outside the box or revise predictions, then this is the book you're looking for. The items that Mouse gets are totally not the things you think will be traded. (And the solution to the problems presented are not the obvious ones, but they still work. So they aren't wrong, but may drive some readers bonkers.) It's surprising, but refreshing in the surprises. And of course, Pham's illustrations are bright, colorful, and entertaining. Definitely recommended to giver readers a little prediction revision exercise and challenge what they think is the only solution to a problem.

[RuthAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Kind little Mouse makes a cake for her friend, Little Bird's birthday. One the way to to Little Bird's house, Mouse encounters various animals who convince her to trade a piece of cake for a cork, wire, net and a flyswatter. Unfortunately, little Mouse was so kind that she failed to save one piece of cake for Little Bird. Clever Little Bird has an idea on how they can use the traded items! In the end, they work together to make another cake and have a party with all the friends they make on the way. Response: This is a fabulous book that will help me teach about predicting and inferencing. This book seems really predicable at first and then one is surprised by the less than obvious trades that occur. It will provide opportunities for great discussions as to why particular trades may have been good or poor decisions. For example, plugging the beehive may have been a bad idea. It is also a great book to discuss friendships and how Mouse and Little Bird worked together to make the cake again and include everyone!

[Daija · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this story is good for young children. I feel the key topic of this story is not to let someone take your kindness for granted. I also think the key topic is that you can always turn something bad into something good. The mouse baked a cake for the little bird and as he was walking to the little bird’s home, he encountered some people who wanted a slice of cake and in exchange, they gave the mouse items that weren’t very useful. By the time the mouse got to the little bird's home, all the cake was gone. The little bird and mouse walked back to the mouse's home and on the way back the animals that the mouse gave a slice of cake to needed help. Mouse and the little bird helped them and in exchange got ingredients to make a new cake. They ended up inviting everyone over to have some cake and celebrate the little bird. I chose this book for my library because it’s appropriate for children and it teaches a lesson that is important for life. Overall I think this story is very good and I rate it a 5/5.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute story about making a cake for a friend, giving away all the cake to other friends in exchange for other objects, which are then traded back in surprising ways for the ingredients to make another cake. It would be easy to find all the objects to show in storytime: a cork, piece of wire, flyswatter, and net. And from a play food set: a bottle of milk, honey jar, eggs, nuts (walnuts in shell maybe?)... or for the food you could make flannel pieces. For my storytime group 0-5 years it might be too long and complex, but a 4-5 year old group I think it would be perfect. Something to think about reading when a kindergarten visits. I also like the idea that we may have objects which we could trade to help each other without exchanging money, a sort of preschool version of the sharing economy.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made no sense. It's the story of a spineless mouse who doesn't follow through on the cake that he made for his friend's birthday and passes it off as being "nice". Then, instead of getting things from the trade that make sense, such as milk, eggs, nutts, he accepts pointless exchanges. Later, they decide to exchange this pointless items for some of the eggs, milk, and nutts, but they don't give the things to the people it would make sense for: the flyswatter to the bear dealing with the bees, or the net to the squirrel carrying the nuts, or the cork to the cow with the milk bottles. Art was nice though.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is adorable. And I found the book interesting because it is constantly subverting expectations. Expect the chicken to trade an egg for a piece of cake? Nope the chicken ends up giving a cork. Expect the mouse and bird to give the cork back to the chicken in exchange for eggs? Nope they offer a birthday party invitation instead. And repeat with all of the other characters making the book much more unpredictable.

Really cute story. Perfect for teaching kids about expectations and the element of surprise!

[Alana/MiaTheReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

My three-year-old really loved this book, and the rest of us enjoyed it, too. It has the feel of The Little Red Hen story but in reverse, with the main character giving away parts of his cake to the ungrateful friends instead of withholding. The ending is still very satisfying and gives an idea of how kindness and cleverness can be employed at the same time. But mostly, it's a cute and fun story.

[Emily]

Summary
This book was about a mouse who wanted to bake a cake for his friends birthday. He used up all of his ingredients to make this cake. Along the way to his friend bird, some friends stopped him along the way to trade items for a piece of his cake. Eventually mouse ran out of cake and did not know what to do when he got to birds house. Then Bird came up with a great idea and thought to find use for the things mouse got. They ended up trading other items for more ingredients to make another cake and invited all of the friends the traded with to make another one so everybody could have a piece.

Activity
For this book I think it would be cool for the kids to make a comic strip of their own animal giving away something that they made. It would give them a chance to be creative and change some things they want to change.

Pham, L. (2014). A piece of cake. New York, NY: Balzer Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of sharing and taking a cake to a friend for his/her birthday. The story circles around to the beginning where mouse needs to bake a new cake and the illustrations are great. But the words are many and repeated and takes a long time to read but if you read it aloud with props and then have the audience remember and bring those elements back to mind as you finish the story you see a circular story form that can be a fun read-aloud.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a generous mouse bakes a cake for his friend, bird, he ends up trading it all away for a bush of useless stuff. However, clever bird makes the most interesting retrades and winds up hosting a birthday party with a newly baked delicious cake. Listeners will love trying to guess what trade is coming up.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book on sharing for kids. It shows how even though Mouse wanted to give the cake to Little Bird; he still shared with his other animal friends; till he had none left. And then, even with the new cake that Mouse and Little Bird made, they still shared with they're friends.
I also think it's more fun telling a story, with animals, then people; kids like animals, a lot.

[Gustavus Cliffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty amazing, except for the missed opportunity of referring to mouse as 'very kind' instead of gullible, or not knowing how to say no, or not knowing how to be assertive. That was a super missed opportunity, but since I talk with my 2 year old about books a lot, I dug the life lesson out of it for him.

[Mama Bearian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mouse makes a cake for Little Bird's birthday, but as he goes to deliver it, he comes across several neighbors who want some cake as well. They trade Mouse for things that don't seem especially useful, until he doesn't have any cake left. Little Bird is not disappointed, though. These things will help! But how? This is a fun story with a classic feel and colorful illustrations.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mouse is taking a birthday cake to Little Bird. On the way, he meets several animals who trade him items so that they can have a piece of the cake (He’s such a kind mouse.) So, when he gets to his friend’s house, the cake is gone. But never fear, Little Bird has a plan!

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young mouse is taking a cake to his friend but along the way every one he mets wants a piece of cake. Will there be any left for his friend? Cute ending and nice lesson on what one needs. Preschool and up

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mouse baked a cake for Little Bird's birthday, but by the time he arrived at his friend's house Mouse had generously given it all away, piece by piece. On their was back to Mouse's house, Little Bird and Mouse cleverly got all they needed to bake another cake. Cute story, nicely illustrated.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story reads like a fable. Poor little mouse is swindled out of the birthday cake he made for his friend, bird. Bird learns of this and trades the silly items back to the animals, makes a new cake with mouse and has a wonderful birthday party. Teaches the lesson about making fair trades.

[Heather Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

megan summer reading 2017, children's book, picture book, sharing, thinking outside the box, different, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade,

[Whole And · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read about read about friendship, cake and exchanges.