HOORAY FOR BREAD

A baker delivers a loaf from the oven to his family’s kitchen, where the bread is eaten, slice by slice, through the course of one day.

Cheery acrylic artwork shows a happy clan with perky parenthesis-shaped smiles, apple cheeks and dot eyes both enjoying their mealtime bread and giving extra morsels to dogs, ducks, birds and mice. Charming portraiture, simple linework and sunny yellow backgrounds connote the warm, pure pleasure of a fine, crusty loaf. Even small children will appreciate how this family values their food, how they let none go to waste and how they share with even the smallest creatures. These animal bread lovers give thanks on joyous, full-bleed, double-page spreads with banner-sized capital letters (“HOORAY—TWEET, TWEET—FOR BREAD!”). Their hoorays offer a nice bounce and a rewarding page turn, buoying occasionally trite rhymes that surface elsewhere. The quirky, conversational language does speak directly to children, however, and the last stanza (about two runaway slices) directs little readers to turn the page for the final food festivity: A gleeful gang of smiley-faced fridge foods (beans, bacon, tomato, cheese, egg, banana, lettuce) run on hind legs to meet up with the missing slices, ready to celebrate and shout HOORAY! 

Mirthful artwork and friendly rhymes get readers all toasty with warm, good feelings.