Pugly Bakes a Cake

Pugly, a dog with big ideas, has hit on his best idea ever. While owner Maddy is at school, he’s going to bake a cake and enter it in a bake-off competition. He’s sure to win, he’s convinced, and Maddy will be so proud of him that she’ll love and cuddle him forever. But he hasn’t counted on the cunning of super-smart Clem the cat, who is also vying for Maddy’s attention. So when Clem suggests that he add a whole
load of extraneous – and revolting – ingredients to make the most original cake ever, he naively agrees. Clive the goldfish knows from  experience just how malicious Clem can be and tries to warn him, but Pugly refuses to understand what’s going on.

This is a wonderfully funny story, perfectly pitched at its young audience, with a lovable character and come-uppance at its heart. Pugly’s
spontaneous enthusiasm and gullibility trigger the action, propelling the story into increasingly comic situations. The reader and Pugly  interpret the story’s events, their cause and effect, differently. While the reader grasps that the dog’s naiveté is the source of mayhem, he, Pugly, remains oblivious. As hilarious as the text are the large expressive illustrations that perfectly capture the zest of the story, alluding as
they do to the popular TV bake-off series familiar to most children.