TALLULAH IN THE KITCHEN

Tallulah the cat loves to cook—especially pancakes. Today, her friends since sandbox days—Freddy (pig), Roxy (alligator) and Flapjack, her dog—are going to be product testers as she tries a new recipe for Amazing Blueberryalicious Pancakes. As she makes a list of ingredients, shops for groceries and prepares the batter, she instructs the helpful friends and offers baking tips and cautions in sidebars. The eye-popping gouache illustrations have a cartoonish collage effect: Fabric patterns on the animals, Tallulah’s newsprint apron and the friends’ thoughts expressed in asides, balloons and hand-printed comments. Sometimes the page design is frenetic with the spreads busily filled with bright shapes, cooking items and visual puns (a book titled “The Pancake Diet” by Dr. Plushbottom). Not as kooky or clever as Philemon Sturges’s The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza (1999), but this switcheroo on the classic tale will serve up giggles along with cooking advice. No eating words here—just delicious pancakes that Tallulah and her friends sell at a lemonade stand. (Picture book. 4-7)