Riya Aarini’s The Country Bake-Off with illustrations by Evgeniya Kozhevnikova is a simple, delightful, and easy-to-read tale with classic and important messages. Kozhevnikova’s lovely full-page illustrations are so charming! I appreciate the timelessness of Aarini’s themes but I do think the writing is a little heavy-handed.

Mouse Country is getting ready to host the famous Country Bake-Off! All the mice, especially bakers Joyful Jazella and Proud Pazenna, are very excited for the big day. Humble Jazella has a heart of gold but lives in a tiny house with limited resources. Meanwhile, haughty Pazenna is rich and has a huge kitchen with every ingredient at her disposal. Will Jazella win the baking competition? Or will Pazenna’s boundless resources ensure her victory?

This is a nice little read! Aarini’s simple, easy-to-read, and approachable writing is very kid-friendly. I think it is a nice touch that only the dialogue rhymes. However, it sometimes seems a bit forced, especially at the end. I definitely appreciate the book’s strong and timeless messages about the value of humility and hard work, the importance of putting love and care into your actions, as well as the idea that having many material things does not always guarantee success or happiness in life. These classic themes are not only important for kids to learn but are also useful life lessons for adults. However, I do wish Aarini’s handling of these messages was a little less heavy-handed and obvious. Even for a children’s book, I sometimes felt like I was being preached to. A little more subtlety would have been much more effective.

I love Kozhevnikova’s beautiful and softly coloured full-page illustrations! They are so cute and the details are nicely done. I could easily tell the two main characters apart. Jazella’s warmth and love are so evident in her soft and friendly features while Pazenna’s smugness is very telling on her prideful and privileged face. I really loved the scenes with Pazenna’s towering cake and magnificent kitchen!

The Country Bake-Off is a lovely and wonderfully illustrated book with enduring and important messages. It will be a great addition to any child’s library!




🐭🐭🐭🐭 mice out of 5!

Always love the author's oeuvres. Her stories are heart warming, with a special message inside. And super enjoyable. This is about two mice who got into country bake-off contest, one rich, and one not as rich. Both tried their best, and only the best wins. Simple yet we can always relate.

The Country Bake-Off is one of this year's best kid's books. Absolutely adorable with a classic tale always worth learning. I read this over and over again.

Mouse Country is having a bake-off contest. Joyful Jazella, a mouse with a heart of gold, decides to enter a cake in the contest. She lives in a hole outside a poor woman's house and have very meager supplies. Proud Pazenna wants to enter as well. Living outside of a fancy house, Pazenna has the best ingredients and equipment that can be obtained.

Who will prevail?

Whimsical illustrations and a good story, The Country Bake-Off has a strong message to children about how it is not what you have that matters, it is the love and care that you put into what you do. Although the plot of the story is not original or unique, children will like rooting for their favorite mouse to win the contest. The Country Bake-Off will be a good addition to both home and school libraries.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Country Bake-Off by NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this children's book was entirely my own.

Beautiful and cute!! A lovely family read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read a digital arc in exchange for my feedback.

Mouse Country is hosting a n Country Bake-Off event and all mice are welcome from near and far away. Joyful Jazella, a little mouse with a heart of gold, hears the news and immediately wants to enter. She lives in a tiny hole outside a poor woman's house. Proud Pazenna who lives in a fancy hollow outside a rich man's house heeds the call and is sure she will be the winner. She believes because she is the richest and has the biggest and fanciest kitchen in the country that she is a shoe-in to win... paws down.

Both mice jump right in to create the winning cake. Jazelle's kitchen is teensy-weensy and her ingredients are sparse. She adds two special ingredients that will be missing from her competitor's cake. She keeps Love and Care tucked in her pocket for such an occasion as this. Jazelle sprinkles a little extra of each so the mice judges will taste the best cake ever baked! Can you guess whose cake wins? I know you can.

The illustrations are delightful and enrich the message of the book. Love and Care trumps riches and showmanship. Jazelle bakes with her heart and haughty Pazenna just wants to outdo everyone else and get the first place trophy. I love the life lesson taught and I highly recommend this book.

What a delightful children's book. It's a neat story with cute illustrations and it has what is most important to me in a children's book...it teaches a value. This story happens to teach us "bigger is not always better" or "more is not always important". Wow, huh?

The prose in this book have a rhyming flow making it easier both for children to read or to listen to. While it is 32 pages long, because of the great illustrations and few words on each page, it is fine for a parent to read to a young child or for a 3rd grade reader and up to read. Reading ages always depend on the reading ability of the child but I know all children would like it.

Great story with a singsong like prose. Wonderful book.

Oh mayn this book was a delightful read set in Mouse Country. The book is set around the country bake-off where two seemingly difference mice Joyful Jazella and Proud Pazenna are competing to win. I absolutely enjoyed this read that had an important lesson that you have to learn when you read. I loved this book and recommend it to everyone . The bonus was that it involved cake!!

When the mouse town holds a Bake Off, expert bakers Jazella and Pazenna compete to make the most impressive, best tasting cake for the judges. But they are on unequal footing, with Pazenna having all the fancy mod-cons and ingredients, while Jazella has only two spices and cooks on an open fire. Who will win?

While the narrative of the story is straight prose, the dialogue is in rhyme, which I found a little jarring when reading this to my kiddo, and it interrupted the flow a little. We did also have to clarify the names of each mouse when reading, as they are quite similar. An independent reader may not have that difficulty, but it was needed when reading aloud.

All that aside, this was a beautifully illustrated little book about the importance of love and care, no matter your status or how much "stuff" you have. My kiddo loved it.

~Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review~

Two very different mice compete in a baking competition. Who will win?

I really like the message here about doing things in an authentic way. Proud Pazenna is a privileged mouse who thinks that, because she has the best ingredients and equipment, she should be able to whip something together and win the baking contest. Joyful Jazella, on the other hand, uses humble ingredients and pure intentions to bake her cake. Which one turns out better? I'm sure you can guess.

There are a few strange inconsistencies with the illustrations (such as when Pazenna uses what looks like a human-sized oven in her own kitchen and then bakes a cake that nearly touches the ceiling), but I'm not sure if kids will notice. The illustrations are otherwise charming, with some cute details.

Overall, I like this one because of the message. Privilege and pride won't always get you what you want. Hard work and careful attention just might. These two murine characters learn that lesson in an easy-to-understand way.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cute book!

It's a short picture book about two mice who enter a baking competition. The illustrations are cute! One mouse is very wealthy and the other lives very modestly. The story is a bit heavy-handed, even for a kids book. But it's a cute story about how care and love can mean more than fancy things.