The BIG Christmas Bake
by Fiona Barker; illus. by Pippa Curnick
Preschool, Primary    Happy Yak/Quarto    32 pp.    g
10/22    978-0-7112-6814-2    $18.99

In some traditions, a special cake with a dried bean hidden inside is made on Twelfth Night, January 5, to mark the end of Christmas. Barker cleverly incorporates “The Twelve Days of Christmas” song into her text as each day animals bring another ingredient that two children need to make such a cake. “The list of what we need is long! Where will we find it all? / A ­partridge brings dried fruit and says he’ll give some friends a call.” ­Curnick’s colorful and exuberant illustrations feature a bevy of ­animals—some faithful to the song, some not (four calling penguins )—pitching in, but it’s the pet dog that receives the biggest surprise of all. More about Twelfth Night cake, a Christmas cupcake recipe, and the song’s original lyrics are appended.

From the November/December 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.