Freddie’s Amazing Bakery: The Great Raspberry Mix Up tells the story of Belville‘s first baking competition. Residents of the town are competing against each other to win £500 but the competition doesn’t run smoothly for baker Freddie who is competing against Bernard Macaroon. And Bernard will do anything to win…
The Story: Freddie decides to enter the Belville Baking Competition by making a cake that looks like the carousel in the park. But when Bernard discovers what Freddie’s plans are he finds a sneaky way to sabotage the cake. The competition starts and there’s a friendly atmosphere between the competitors who are all friends of Freddie. But there’s something wrong with Freddie’s pink raspberry icing and things aren’t going quite as he planned…
Freddie’s Amazing Bakery includes a colourful cast of characters. Freddie is a kind, caring character who owns a French Bulldog called Flapjack. He’s not a very confident character but his best friend Amira always makes him feel better, she works with him in the bakery. Bernard is the complete opposite of Freddie, he’s bigheaded, mean to his staff, sneaky and so jealous of Freddie that he’s absolutely determined to ruin Freddie’s entry.
This story left us licking our lips with its amazing food descriptions – cheesy pastry, sausage rolls, almond tarts, meringues, eclairs. And then there are the show stopping competition entries which are judged by Mrs Van de Lune, who owns the grandest hotel in Belville, and the hotel’s patisserie chef, Monsieur Brioche (we love his name!).
Different fonts and font sizes are used throughout the story and mini cupcakes break up larger chunks of text, the pages are laid out in a really appealing and non threatening way for a beginner reader. We love Alex G Griffiths’ black and white illustrations – particularly the great map of Belville.
Freddie’s amazing bakery is a heartwarming story of food and friendship with a little bit of mystery and meanness mixed in. On the day before the competition we meet Freddie’s very different friends as he does his deliveries. His interactions with them are caring and kindhearted and at the competition they do everything they can to help when things go wrong. But as the clock ticks Freddie is under pressure…
Age Range: 5+
Author: Harriet Whitehorn / Illustrator: Alex G Griffiths
We really enjoyed reading Freddie’s first adventure and are looking forward to reading the other books in the series.
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