Freddie's Amazing Bakery: The Great Raspberry Mix-up

Freddie's Amazing Bakery #1

by Harriet Whitehorn, Alex G. Griffiths (Illustrator)

Freddie Bonbon is sweet by name and sweet by nature! He runs the most amazing bakery in town and although life is busy, he always has time to lend a hand to his friends and customers. But not everyone in the picturesque town of Belville appreciates Freddie’s baking—rival baker Bernard will do anything to sabotage Freddie’s spectacular showstoppers.

The Belville Cake competition is just around the corner and all Freddie’s friends have persuaded him to enter. He’s not sure his baking is really good enough – but everyone else in town agrees that he is a genius in the kitchen!
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Genres: Food, Mystery, Childrens, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Bam cooks the books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute chapter book for kids set in a small town named Belville where they are holding a baking competition for the prize of 500 pounds. Freddie Bonbon has a small bakery and could really use a new oven so he enters with high hopes. But there's a bigger bakery in town run by a rather mean man named Bernard Macaroon who will do anything to win, even CHEAT! Nice message about helping. Includes a recipe for Freddie's Raspberry Cupcakes.

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so cue! This is the great british bake off in a kids book! Freddie has a bakery and so does mean old Bernard Macaroon. They have a baking competition in the town of Belleville to find a new baker for the hotel in town and Bernard tries to mess Freddie up but Freddie is pure kindness. This is the same as the baking shows where you have the inevitable mess up and the time stress and I just thought it was so cute!

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute intro chapter book with a mild villain and a good moral of the story about teamwork and selflessness. Also included a recipe in the back for raspberry cupcakes. Yum!

[Meggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute early chapter book. My 5 yo loved so much he asked me to read too! Sweet “Great British Bake-off” theme.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was such a fun chapter book. I think we'll keep up with this series.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Belville Cake Competition is coming up. Many people in town are entering, include bakers Freddie Bonbon and Bernard Macaroon. Freddie is a friendly baker, eager to help out his neighbors (even giving them advice and help planning their entries into the competition) and who puts love into each baked good. Bernard thinks baking has to be done exactly, and he isn’t happy unless he is first. As the competition starts, someone tries to sabotage Freddie’s cake recreation of the town carousel repeatedly. Who would do such a thing? And will Freddie be able to finish?

Even young readers should be able to pick up on the heavy hints as to who is sabotaging Freddie’s cake. I love that all Freddie’s kindness comes around during the competition, and the people he helped out in the past turn around and help him out. Not only that, but Freddie has a big heart and when he hears that the local animal shelter may have to close without more funds, he donates his winnings to them instead of keeping it for a new oven he could kind of use…he then gets a new job out of the competition and through that unexpectedly gets a new oven so it works out for everyone. It’s a great little baking competition mystery with a fantastic message of passing on kindness.

Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: None
Ethnic diversity: One of Freddie’s friends is Indian British. The illustrations give characters a variety of skin tones (in black, white, and gray)
LGBTQ+ content: None specified
Other: The bad guy isn’t very nice, but he loses and loses customers because of his behavior.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Belville Baking Competition is coming up and Freddie will compete for the 500 pound prize. He hopes to win so he can buy a much needed new cooker for his little bakery. However as the day approaches, he's missing one key ingredient to the cake he plans to wow the judges with. Will he be able to manage?

I suspected that I'd really like this book from the very first page that starts with the hook, "This is a book about CAKE...", and I was right. The opening also tells you that you'll be craving some cake after reading this book, and this also was correct! More than anything I really enjoyed Freddie's character that shines through the entire story. It is actually because of his kindness, that all ends up well by the end.

[Shoshanah · Rating 5 out of 5]

We finished The Great Raspberry Mix-Up by Harriet Whitehorn, the first the Freddie’s Amazing Bakery series. This book was such delicious fun!

It reminded me a bit of the old Strawberry Shortcake special, Strawberry Shortcake in the Big Apple. (Anyone else remember it?)

The books were originally published in the UK so there’s some fun British details within. Things like calling cookies biscuits or using £ instead of $. Also fun is that there’s a recipe included at the end of the book.

This book is the first in the series and thankfully we have the next ones to continue reading.

4.5/5

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful story!!

We loved the fun characters and exciting story line! Freddie is a good friend and fun to read about all his baking creations. Bernard is a classic villian. Loved the good friendships shown with Freddie and Mrs Mackenzie and JoJo and Amira.

Simple story so easy for my younger kids to follow the action. Not too long either so it's easy to keep their attentions.

Loved the clever ways they use font with the narrator and exciting announcements and things. The pictures are great too!

Excited to read more in the series!

[Kelly Pinkerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just adore this chapter book and so does my six-year-old. In this intro to Freddie and his amazing bakery, we meet all the important people of Belleville. The town is hosting a baking competition and lovable Freddie is thwarted by the jealous villain Bernard. The simple text is easy to read and follow and the story line provides great lessons in friendship, cooperation, and believing in yourself. I am looking forward to reading aloud the next book in the series.

[Katherine Pendleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I loved Bernard, he's like my favorite character because he's like super messing up and he's like "you can't do this Freddie" and he like put tacs on the road and he put the arrow the wrong way and then he fell into the lake. And then he thought that a guy said ummmmm *laughing* that he looked unbelievable. But he said "you're unbelievable" and it was sooooo funny. And he had a cat named something and I can't remember the other things."

[Heidi Selas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how friendly and giving Freddie is! He puts everyone before himself. Definitely a cutesy chapter book. Plus, this book comes with a map in the beginning and that always gets bonus points in my book 😉 I enjoyed the narration parts and the POV in Freddie and Bernard's perspectives. It was uniquely done and it intrigued me.

[Rini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story with a mild villian. Centered around a baking competition and someone keeps messing up Freddie's plans. Great friendship aspects, good sportsmanship shown. The anticipation of seeing someone sneak into Freddie's bakery had us reading past our usual one chapter a night. Lots of fun and the rest of the series has already been requested.

Daughter is 4 years old.

[Lara Giesbers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a gem to find! It's a story about kindness, teamwork, and humility. Freddie loves to bake and deliver his baked goods with his dog, Flapjack. On a suggestion from his friend and bakery manager, he enters a baking competition, where one thing after another goes wrong. Can Freddie pull off his amazing creation in time?

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

children's chapter book with illustrations. Kids who like to help mom in the kitchen will enjoy this. There is even a recipe at the end of the book. Freddie is a great roll model, showing kindness and generosity.

[Efox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas purchase for the 6 year old - who didn't seem interested at first, but then was like SO into this book. It's a sweet story that as someone who has watched a lot of Great British Baking Show in the background of her pandemic work from home reminded me of that a lot - but in a fun, lighthearted way. I like Freddie's joy and enthusiasm - especially when it comes to helping his friends out and being kind to animals.

I think we are really going to enjoy the rest of this series.

[Jessica Bogacki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my 8 year old. This is another chapter book that could be easily read independently by an 8 year old. We thoroughly enjoyed this story about a baking competition and can’t wait to try out the recipe that was included at the end.

[John Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great children's book that teaches good morals to kids in doing what is the right thing even when it's not easy. The characters are simple. There is plenty of quirky humor. Overall, I enjoyed reading it with my 6 year old.

[Emily Perrin]

Fun read aloud in the kindergarten classroom!

[Margaret Heninger · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun positive book!

[Sarah's Reading Nook · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids love all of these stories and the recipe that comes with them.

[Laura Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. Just the right amount of mystery to keep my kiddo interested. I also loved that helping your friends is rewarded at the competition!

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for 7-10 age ranges. Especially for those that love baking.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun mystery for my daughter. We loved the recipe for raspberry cake at the end! Yum!

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read-aloud with R. Jan. 2023

Cute book about overcoming obstacles and kindness.

[Katelyn Bourland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, energetic story that's great for read aloud time. My children ages 3-7 enjoyed this light-hearted fun story line.

[Christine Fuery · Rating 5 out of 5]

We enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to make the cupcake recipe at the end of the book. We’re excited to dig into the rest of the series too!

[Kelly Trepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, simple and engaging with a good lesson about friendship and selflessness. Enjoyed by both my 8 year old and 5 year old.

[Hudson Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing series And I was forced to write a 5 star review.

[Stephanie Sattler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud to my third graders. Super cute mini mystery. Will read more from this series!