It Happened on Sweet Street

May 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 3-Monsieur Oliphant is a baker of extraordinary cakes whose shop sits in the middle of a cul-de-sac between a cobbler and a bric-a-brac shop. People line up to get his delicious cakes. When the cobbler retires, another baker move in beside the cake maker. Mademoiselle Fee's specialty is beautiful cookies of all shapes and sizes. Before long, another long line appears on Sweet Street. Unhappy with this turn of events, Mr. Oliphant works hard to outdo Ms. Fee. When the bric-a-brac seller retires, a third baker moves to Sweet Street. Hers is a pie shop and the people are thrilled that they now have marvelous cakes, cookies, and pies. But the bakers are unhappy and, before you know it, a dessert fight begins. A charming story, overall, this will have children laughing over the food fight and the incredible dessert created by a smart little girl amid all the chaos. In the midst of madness, good things can come to life. Artful illustrations use exaggerated humor and complement the zaniness of the story. VERDICT This delectable book is a useful purchase for libraries looking for titles that foster discussion about competition and inclusion.-Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2020
Sweet Street had just one baker, Monsieur Oliphant, until two new confectionists move in, bringing a sugar rush of competition and customers. First comes "Cookie Concocter par excellence" Mademoiselle Fee and then a pie maker, who opens "the divine Patisserie Clotilde!" With each new arrival to Sweet Street, rivalries mount and lines of hungry treat lovers lengthen. Children will delight in thinking about an abundance of gingerbread cookies, teetering, towering cakes, and blackbird pies. Wonderfully eccentric line-and-watercolor illustrations (with whites and marbled pastels like frosting) appeal too. Fine linework lends specificity to an off-kilter world in which buildings tilt at wacky angles and odd-looking (exclusively pale) people walk about, their pantaloons, ruffles, long torsos, and twiglike arms, legs, and fingers distinguishing them as wonderfully idiosyncratic. Rotund Monsieur Oliphant's periwinkle complexion, flapping ears, and elongated nose make him look remarkably like an elephant while the women confectionists appear clownlike, with exaggerated lips, extravagantly lashed eyes, and voluminous clothes. French idioms surface intermittently, adding a certain je ne sais quoi. Embedded rhymes contribute to a bouncing, playful narrative too: "He layered them and cherried them and married people on them." Tension builds as the cul de sac grows more congested with sweet-makers, competition, frustration, and customers. When the inevitable, fantastically messy food fight occurs, an observant child finds a sweet solution amid the delicious detritus. A rollicking tale of rivalry. (Picture book. 4-8 )

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May 15, 2020
Grades K-3 If Dr. Seuss' The Butter Battle Book (1984) met Bob Staake's The Donut Chef (2008), you'd have the confectionery clash that once went down on Sweet Street. Adderson takes readers back to a time before the famous fracas, when Monsieur Oliphant, Creator of Cakes, was the only peddler of sweets on that particular cul-de-sac. The first challenge arises with the arrival of Madamoiselle F�e, a Cookie Concocter par excellence!, whose new shop spawns a fierce rivalry between the two bakers. The competition only increases when Madame Clotilde unveils a neighboring p�tisserie devoted to pie. As the lines for each shop grow, so does the tension among the three merchants?until a flung pie triggers pastry pandemonium. Readers will become quickly invested in the escalating events on Sweet Street and the story's carnivalesque atmosphere. Jorisch's sketchy, angular line art is brushed with rainbows, as if placed beneath a prism, and it evokes a jolly gravitas appropriate to a tale of just desserts. Naturally, a sweet resolution lets everyone have their cake?or pie or cookie?and eat it too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)