The two bunnies are preparing for Grandma's birthday. Max makes and earthworm birthday cake with mud. Ruby begins work on an angel surprise cake with raspberry-fluff icing. Max wants to help his sister, but, somehow, always manages to knock things off the table. Wells's ink-and-watercolor pictures of the siblings are both hilarious and tender. Every younger sib or small member of the family will recognize Max's determination, mischief, and love.
It's kitchen chaos as Wells's beloved Max and Ruby become bunnies who bake. Max and Ruby each have grand plans for Grandma's birthday cake. Max envisions an earthworm cake with caterpillar frosting and "Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters" on top. Ruby, however, insists on an "angel surprise cake with raspberry-fluff icing." Max tries his best to help his bossy older sister but, as always, winds up making a mess. After spilling the milk or breaking the eggs, Max is repeatedly dispatched to the store with Ruby's neatly printed list of ingredients, all the while trying to figure out how to convey his own request to the grocer. Wells's (My Very First Mother Goose) ink-and-watercolor world is cheery as ever here, replete with a cozy, '50s-esque kitchen and friendly neighborhood market. She accurately captures the prickliness of sibling exchanges ("There's a yellow line on the floor, Max," says Ruby when Max returns with a replacement bottle of milk. "You can't step over that line"). Hapless Max maintains a happy-go-lucky demeanor in any situation, a shining example of patience and perseverance. And when it comes to the interplay between pared-down text and eventful illstrations, Wells, quite simply, takes the cake.
Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly
It's kitchen chaos as Wells's beloved Max and Ruby become bunnies who bake. Max and Ruby each have grand plans for Grandma's birthday cake. Max envisions an earthworm cake with caterpillar frosting and "Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters" on top. Ruby, however, insists on an "angel surprise cake with raspberry-fluff icing." Max tries his best to help his bossy older sister but, as always, winds up making a mess. After spilling the milk or breaking the eggs, Max is repeatedly dispatched to the store with Ruby's neatly printed list of ingredients, all the while trying to figure out how to convey his own request to the grocer. Wells's (My Very First Mother Goose) ink-and-watercolor world is cheery as ever here, replete with a cozy, '50s-esque kitchen and friendly neighborhood market. She accurately captures the prickliness of sibling exchanges ("There's a yellow line on the floor, Max," says Ruby when Max returns with a replacement bottle of milk. "You can't step over that line"). Hapless Max maintains a happy-go-lucky demeanor in any situation, a shining example of patience and perseverance. And when it comes to the interplay between pared-down text and eventful illustrations, Wells, quite simply, takes the cake. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
PreS-Gr 1For Grandma's birthday, Max makes an earthworm cake while Ruby decides to go all out with an "angel surprise cake with raspberry-fluff icing." Max wants to help but instead knocks the ingredients off the counter one by one. Thus, with a list from Ruby in hand, he makes repeated trips to the store. He also tries to buy Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters for his own cake, but the grocer can't read his colorful scribbles. It's not until the fourth and final trip that silent Max discovers the power of representational drawing. In the end, Grandma is satisfyingly thrilled with both of her cakes. This deceptively simple story touches on several ideas, from birthdays and baking to making lists and shopping. More importantly, it shows two independent, self-assured youngsters accomplishing individual, age-appropriate goals. Ruby and Max have a wonderful sibling relationship; Ruby tells Max just what not to do, and Max does just what he wants and neither one gets mad. Despite the repeated mishaps, they remain undaunted and refreshingly cheerful. Vibrant ink-and-watercolor art and a clean, effective layout focus readers' attention on the action at hand and on the irresistible, busy, rabbit characters. Wells continues to speak directly to young children.Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
The famous Max and his sister, Ruby, are the stars of this self-proclaimed brand-name production—A Max & Ruby Picture Book—but there is no formula here—only extreme originality.
To celebrate their grandmother's birthday, Max is constructing an earthworm cake while bossy Ruby declares that a real cake will be made. She begins whipping one up. Max, in the meantime, breaks the eggs, the first in a series of mishaps that lends repetition—the soul of story hours—to the plot. List from Ruby in hand, he is sent to the store each time he destroys an item, and attempts to add (in a preschooler's version of handwriting) his own sought-after ingredient, Red-Hot Marshmallow Squirters. Each time, the grocer understandably cannot read Max's writing; each time Max returns home, he finds that Ruby is attempting to keep accidents to a minimum by keeping him away from her work. At one point, she posts a drawing in which Max appears inside a red circle with a line through it. Wells's ingenuity never flags, not in the brief text nor in the illustrations. Her close-ups of destroyed ingredients and her many ways of showing two children in the same setting suggest she knows her subject well. Ruby's sloping iced cake is a gem, and Max's is grandly icky and visibly worm-infested: "Grandma was so thrilled, she didn't know which cake to eat first."
