This is hilarious! This is such a way to learn about patience and the importance of following directions. The artwork is fantastic and the characters are really fun.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

This was a fast paced (lol) and high spirited book that both emphasizes the importance of taking your time in learning new things and teaches kids some of the science and history of cake baking. It was spunky and fun, and I think it would be very appealing to kids about 5-8.

Visually, the art was bright and engaging, but there were a couple of instances of unintuitive formatting - places where you had to read a lower speech bubble first or cross to the righthand page then come back to the left. Also, there was a prairie dog named Garbage who's apparently a character from an earlier book, but he's a bit weird looking and the best I could figure out from this book alone was that he was literally a tower of garbage. That... didn't make much sense, but I honest to goodness could not figure out what else he was supposed to be.

Some parents may object to a use of the word butt.

What a wacky, fun book!! I loved all the various animals featured in the book. this would be a great companion for a child learning how to cook or bake. It also had a lesson on patience!

This was cute, I liked the use of the tortoise and the hare for fast and slow.
I'm not sure if the intention was to make you side with the bunny in the beginning, but I was getting tired of Ms Shelly's history lessons too. I like how you swap from wanting to go quickly to seeing the importance of patience and intentional actions.

This is a cute adaptation of the tortoise and the hare where the hare is busy making a dirt cake as quick as possible while the tortoise is taking the time to make a beautiful and delicious cake. At the end the hare realizes that making a very quick cake may not be the best and tastiest cake out there but he knows that his patient teacher the tortoise is always there to help him learn to slow down and do his best.

The pictures are beautiful and engaging and the writing on each page is separated into dialogue and text boxes. The pictures help decipher what is going on and the speech bubbles help create a graphic novel feel which will draw in reluctant readers who love a good graphic novel.

I could definitely see young readers in the K-3 range loving this book and maybe even some outside of that range too. I so appreciate Netgalley and the Publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book and I look forward to purchasing a copy for my grade 3 classroom library in the future!

What a nice entertaining and educational twist on an age old classic tale of the tortoise and the hair. I think this would be great for early school age children who have just a little more patience to sit through the more educational parts.

I just loved this book. It just made me laugh and smile. The illustrations are just lovable and cute with a storyline to match -- a retelling of the Tortoise and the Hare. Not sure if the recipe is legit, but it wouldn't hurt to try with the little ones after reading the story.

This is a Birthday Cake is the perfect addition to any child's library and I'm sure that it will be a favorite that will be read every story time. Five fantastic stars.

I received a digital ARC from Oni Press through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

This book is a fun spin on the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise wants to take her time and the hare is in a rush to get the cake finished.

My 2 year old son and I enjoyed the illustrations. He laughed at several of the jokes, including the hen cooking the cake with her butt.

The history about cake and candles was interesting to me, but almost made my son loose interest in reading the book before it had even really started.

Overall, the book is cute and fun, but not something I would keep on my bookshelf at home.

A fun children's book that teaches you all about the history of cakes and how to make a general cake! The illustrations are fun and engaging, the characters are silly and hilarious - overall a really fun to introduce an aspect of baking to your kids! It also teaches your kids the important of slowing down and being intentional with your actions. Bucky's recipe for cake at the end made me laugh out loud - hilarious! A fun and educational read for kids!

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was fun, entertaining, and adorable! It has a great lesson too, the moral of the story is slow down, pay attention, and follow the instructions - pay attention to the details. I would definitely recommend this book!

This book was so cute!!! I loved the illustrations, a little bit of history on birthday cake and candles, the math included with the directions to make the cake and the humor with Bucky’s cake that went wrong. So so adorable and a must buy for your child or classroom!

My 4 year old laughed out loud a few times during this silly story with a nice message. Being fast doesn't always make you the winner or the best. Remember, slow and steady is sometimes (and oftentimes) more important than winning. Very cute!

This book was funny at parts but overall I will not be purchasing this. There are too many parts that throw off the story, like the history of cake in the beginning. I understand the intention of this piece but for a child its going to throw them off. It could have been included as backmatter (with a good cake recipe!). The clock in Shelly's house never changed time, and could have been a clue to children that he or she was taking their time in baking the cake, such as is done in Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola. This is a fun premise, and the hen part made me laugh, but overall this isn't something I'd purchase for the library collection.

I started reading this book…” Cake was first used to celebrate birthdays in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago” and thought “Oh, this is going to be painful.” On the next page, Bucky says “Eww! Is this a history lesson? Let’s make the cake already!” and I was hooked. After that, it was magical. I even giggled at one point, and I am a senior citizen. The book teaches a lesson about patience but is truly funny. Bucky is like a toddler with ADHD and is so loveable. Shelly is slow and steady with patience galore. The illustrations are hilarious. They are exactly what a child (or a rabbit) would do. The one of Bucky with the candles stuck up his nose and in his ear is priceless. This is a wonderful book that I cannot rave about enough. It far exceeds my expectations and will have children laughing out loud. I am going to find This is a Taco and purchase both books for my grandchildren.


I received an ARC from Oni Press through NetGalley. This is no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

A picture book with a bunny who is trying to bake a cake? This was literally made for me!

Bucky is a bunny and an apprentice baker in training; Ms Shelly is a baker and Bucky's teacher. Being a tortoise, Ms. Shelly takes her time explaning the origins and history of the birthday cake but Bucky cannot restrain his excitement and goes out into the forest to gather the ingredients and make his own birthday cake for the party!
Turns out... it takes time to bake a delicious cake!

Lovely pictures, lovely characters, and I loved the trivia tidbit about birthday cakes!
There are other books in this series (?) and I'll be sure to check them out!

"This is a Birthday Cake" is a quick fast read that teaches about patience, focus, and a bit about how to make your own cake!
Shelly, a turtle, is trying to teach Bucky, a young bunny, how to make a cake and she tends to move a bit slower, which doesn't work so well for fast paced Bucky. Read along as Bucky tries to break records as he uses the recipe Shelly gave him to make his own birthday cake for a party. He becomes quite inventive to make the cake quickly, using dirt with worms instead of flour, honey comb instead of flour and other inventive and creative ways to make and bake the cake while Shelly steadfastly and diligently to make a cake at the same time. Who do you think will make the better cake, Shelly or Bucky?

I would recommend this book as a fun read aloud for any age, especially 5-7, for children who know about birthday cakes and need some help being patient.

This is a fantastic book that reimagines the story of the Tortoise and the Hare into a baking lesson. The tortoise is trying to teach the hare how to make a birthday cake which they will share with their friends as soon as it is baked. However, the hare is in such a hurry that ingredients and recipes are not as important and finishing quickly. The illustrations are colorful, clever and engaging. Each character is well thought out and draws you into the story. I read it to some elementary students and they all wanted to check it out. High praise indeed!! The students really thought about the need to listen and slow down to get all the facts before jumping into an activity. I liked the way the author reframed the fable to include an activity that is less physical and more mental. It made the story richer and deeper than the original fable. I highly recommend adding this to your collection for the young person in your life or your own picture book collection.

This is the cutest “The Tortoise & the Hare” retelling. I adored Aesop’s fables as a child but running was never something I enjoyed. So, the idea of winning a race never appealed to me.

Yet, this book approaches the same morals and ideals from something far more relatable: cake baking.

The illustrations are gorgeous! I enjoyed seeing the morals consistently repeated. The hare is pretty symbolic of a busy person. He didn’t want to take time to slow down, listen, practice, and learn the art form of cake baking.

I highly recommend this book! It’s absolutely wonderful and fun!

A charming retelling of The Tortoise and Hare, in which Bucky, the baker in training (the hare) attempts to learn how to make a birthday cake from Shelly the baker (the tortoise). The story delightfully blends in the facts about cake making, while sharing Shelly's and Bucky's cake making exploits, along with a lesson in the value of patience. The book is gorgeously illustrated.

Many thanks to the Publisher, the Author and NetGalley for an advance copy in return for my honest review.

I absolutely ADORE this book! A really clever take on the classic Tortoise & the Hare story. I loved everything about it.

I loved the cute illustrations and the layout with the history and recipe pages. Especially Bucky's page with all the scribbles.

I loved how excited and eager Bucky was, and his comments when things were moving too slow - so adorable and funny!

Shelly & Bucky really compliment each other and make a great pair.

Such a fun read! Highly recommend.