Mike MalbroughCritiques

Independent Reading Level: Grades 1-3

SO MANY DIFFERENT WORDS. When teaching "reading" as an early literacy skill, this would be a great book to explain to parents how reading opens up a child's vocabulary.

Another childrens book for the perfectionist who melt down and yell

This is my favourite book of the year I think. The illustrations are hilarious, the little linguistic flourishes are great (like easy, peasy, squeasy), and the ending is perfect.

Marigold has the best facial expressions:

Marigold, the grumpy orange cat from Marigold bakes a cake returns for his birthday. Marigold has baked an amazing cake and is ready to entertain all his animal friends with magic tricks for his birthday. But those bedeviling birds are back again and no matter what magic words he uses, he just can't get rid of them! Being Marigold, he eventually loses his temper and makes EVERYONE disappear - including his friends. Marigold realizes he just needs a few magic words to get his friends (and, unfortunately, the birds) back again.

Pudgy orange Marigold goes through a wide variety of emotions, mostly ranging from frustration to anger with a side of embarrassment when he makes his clothes disappear! and kids are certain to giggle along with the show. The colorful birds explode chaotically across the page and Marigold's magic is richly and wildly illustrated.

Verdict: I like the first Marigold story better, with its surprise ending, but this one with a more traditional ending; Marigold discovering he needs his friends and needs to say "please" and "thank you" will probably appeal more to most caregivers. Kids will just like the part where Marigold ends up in his underwear!

ISBN: 9781524737436; Published March 2019 by Philomel/Penguin; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Marigold the perfectionist cat returns in this follow-up to her initial picture-book adventure, Marigold Bakes a Cake. Throwing herself a magnificent birthday party, our feline heroine has everything in order: a magnificent cake, and a magical show like no other. But when her final trick doesn't go as planned, she gets more and more flustered, eventually making her entire audience disappear, with her bad temper. Can she find the magic words to bring them back...?

As the title here suggests, Marigold does indeed find those words, and all ends happily. An engaging second adventure, Marigold Finds the Magic Words explores a fairly common childhood experience - namely, having a temper tantrum when events become too much to handle, and one becomes frustrated and flustered - and offers a constructive solution to the problem: apologizing! The artwork here, done in watercolor, is quite appealing, with vivid color and a very expressive Marigold. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories addressing frustration and having a temper tantrum, as well as to those readers who enjoyed Marigold's first story.

A baker and a perfectionist, one who liked everything to be in its correct place, and every event to occur in the proper order, Marigold the marmalade cat had designated Mondays as baking day. But one week, sequestered in his kitchen, our feline hero discovered that an ever-growing assortment of birds was invading his domain, causing quite a mess. What was a cake-loving cat to do...?

A picture-book debut for author/illustrator Mike Malbrough, Marigold Bakes a Cake features an engaging story, joined to expressive, amusing artwork. With all of Marigold's many outraged exclamations, as the birds keep intruding on his peaceful alone time, I can imagine this one making quite an entertaining read-aloud selection at story-time. Recommended to all young bakers and cat-lovers, and to anyone looking for children's stories about being a perfectionist in a messy world.

I thought this was hilarious, but appealing to my somewhat quirky/dark sense of humor may not be the best thing for a picture book....

Marigold, a very precise and perfectionist marmalade cat, is preparing for his weekly baking. Marigold is going to make the most perfect cake ever...when birds start appearing. Marigold tries getting rid of them, but nothing works and he ends up with a giant mess! After taking a walk to calm down, he discovers that the birds just really want to bake...

[SPOILER]

Unfortunately, they're no good at it! Turns out that some things just aren't for birds, as Marigold discovers in the last spread where, rolling pin waving and fangs out, he chases the birds out of his kitchen.

Malbrough is originally a teacher, artist, and has experience in graphic design which definitely shows in his debut picture book. The comic timing is just right and Marigold's expressions are some of the funniest parts of the book. The illustrations, including birds in hats, are lush and colorful and the brisk rhymes add a touch of alliterative humor.

The ending made me laugh uncontrollably - it certainly isn't the typical "let's all be friends together" ending of a picture book. This one will definitely appeal to older kids with a sense of humor and those who enjoy chaos.

Verdict: An additional purchase, but a fun one!

ISBN: 9781524737382; Published 2017 by Philomel; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library