Review - It Happened on Sweet Street

It Happened on Sweet Street
by Caroline Adderson
illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch
Date: 2020
Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 44
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Cakes, cookies or pie? A rivalry among local bakers is the basis for this deliciously sweet, off-the-wall picture book.

Monsieur Oliphant's cake shop, the only bakery game in town, has long had customers lining up outside its door for Oliphant's delicious jelly rolls and marvelous wedding cakes . . . until the day cookie concocter Mademoiselle Fée takes over the old shoemaker's shop. And it isn't long before the divine piemaker Madame Clotilde soon moves into the old bric-a-brac shop. Three different bakers all trying to outclass one another means their little cul-de-sac is packed with customers every day and night, so, one morning, when everyone is bumpling and jostling each other with their cakes, cookies and pies, a food disaster -- a massacre of cream, a devastation of crumbs -- is inevitable! Only one little girl has the drive (or appetite?) to find a solution, but can it last? This madcap tale of frenzied cooks and zany eats (and one very lucky town) will delight readers with a sweet tooth of any age!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is... unhygienic. Seriously. Don't read it if you have contamination-based OCD.

Monsieur Oliphant (who, inexplicably, appears to be the sole elephant in a world of humans) bakes cakes in a shop on Sweet Street. He's got a monopoly as the sole vendor of baked goods. But then a cookie-maker moves in next door. And then a pie-maker. Tensions rise, everyone has a food fight, and the conflict is resolved when a child picks smashed baked goods up off the street and serves them to the crowd.

This grossed me out so badly. Right from the start, things got disgusting. We're shown Monsieur Oliphant making a jelly roll. The cake is dangling onto the floor as he's spreading the jelly on it. Then Mademoiselle Fée cuts out cookies with her shoes. Then Madame Clotilde closes the oven door with her foot on the handle. Where is the freaking health department?! The whole thing comes to a gag-inducing conclusion during the food fight when a child picks up broken cakes, cookies, and pies, smushes them all together, and presents them to the crowd... to a chorus of, "Délicieuse!!!" (More like, "Dégoûtant!!!")

The pictures are strange. They're trying to be whimsical, but they just look cluttered. And I really don't like what they're depicting.

This is a definite miss from me. Maybe if you don't mind watching people bake really filthy cakes, cookies, and pies you'll enjoy this more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books (NY) for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.67 out of 5