SUPER PANCAKE AND THE MINI MUFFIN MAYHEM

An anthropomorphic, superpowered young pancake faces her greatest challenge yet: babysitting.

Secretly saving the world as Super Pancake has left Peggy Pancake little time for doing homework. She’ll be spending spring break completing a missed assignment. Even worse, her parents have signed her up for a weeklong babysitting job. Her charges, the Mini Muffin quintuplets, leave her exhausted, and after Peggy and the kids stop by her friend Professor Egg’s lab, things get even worse. The littlest quintuplet, Minnie, pilfers the professor’s doom laser and accidentally turns herself into a mega-sized muffin. Now Super Pancake and her trusty sidekick, Kid Croissant, must save the day once again. It’s a fairly straightforward tale, complete with a third-act pep talk from Peggy’s pal Stanley Bacon that motivates her and Kid Croissant, but the breakfast food–themed characters and setting infuse the story with whimsy and humor. The Pancake family house is shaped like a giant skillet, while their car is a bottle of maple syrup; before sending her off on her babysitting gig, Peggy’s mom tells her to “break an egg!” Despite the larger-than-life superheroics and quirky setting, Peggy also contends with more down-to-earth problems, such as wrangling her rambunctious charges and dealing with burnout. Alwar’s energetic cartoon illustrations are both action packed and adorable. A quick recap of the first book will make it easy for newcomers to the series to jump right in.

Sweet but substantial, just like a balanced breakfast should be.