Shelf Awareness--It Happened on Sweet Street

PB Review: It Happened on Sweet Street

It Happened on Sweet Street by Caroline Adderson, illus. by Stéphane Jorisch (Tundra Books, 44p., ages 4-8, 9781101918852)

This zany picture book delivers a tasty treatise on the benefits of keeping the peace--and keeping a variety of desserts at hand!

On Sweet Street, "between the bric-a-brac boutique and the shoemaker," stands the bakery of Monsieur Oliphant, "Exclusive Creator of Cakes." Customers line up to buy his "jelly-rolled," layered and "cherried" creations. When the shoemaker retires, Mademoiselle Fée, "Cookie Concocter par excellence," moves in. Soon there is a line in front of her store, too. People wait to buy treats she has stamped, "tooled... and jeweled" and dusted with sugar. Though there are plenty of customers to go around, Monsieur Oliphant tries to out-create Mademoiselle Fée. Then the bric-a-brac dealer retires and Madame Clotilde moves in. As a third line of customers waits for the pies "the divine Pâtisserie Clotilde" has "rolling-pinned," frilled and filled, both Monsieur Oliphant and Mademoiselle Fée work to "out-concoct" their new rival. When all three bakers angrily step outside, "a massacre of cream, a catastrophe of meringue, a devastation of crumbs" follows, culminating with cheerful coexistence at last.

Author of the Jasper John Dooley series, Caroline Adderson's waggish text promotes the benefits of cooperation over competition in tones as delicate as any Sweet Street confection. Paired with Stéphane Jorisch's (Betty Bunny series) quirky illustrations, rendered in pencil, ink and watercolor then digitally assembled, the stylish color and line work lends credence to the farcical tone of the piece. The lucky people of Sweet Street cheerfully reap the rewards when their bakers finally get the message: there is always room for more dessert. "Délicieuse!!!" --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI.

Discover: When Sweet Street's only baker of cakes must make room for a cookie concoctor and a pie purveyor, things get sticky before they get better.