Hen's Cake

Doyle and Lodge have combined the plots of ‘The Little Red Hen’, ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and ‘The Very Hungry Crocodile’ in their story about a cake prepared by the industrious Heidi, claimed on completion by her lazy companions, then pursued by a growing menagerie of menacing gluttons after it has grown legs and fled along the road to the river in order to elude consumption. The story has a rollicking pace, driven by Doyle’s rhythmic text with cumulative repetitions that skips across the pages, boldly holding its own against the bright toyshop colours of Lodge’s full page illustrations. This is a very enjoyable mini-adventure with all the fun of the chase. I just hope that the children do not identify too closely with the cake.