Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve
Library ed. ISBN 978-0-385-38795-8 $15.99
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-38792-7 $12.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-385-38794-1 $9.99 R Gr. 2-4
Astra can’t even think about tucking herself into her sleeping pod on a spaceship [End Page 46] for 199 years without a decent snack to tide her over. After she gives the food machine the daunting task of making the ultimate cake, however, she’s sent to bed before she can enjoy the result. When Astra awakes (early, so no one else is up), frenzied work robots are trying to ward off sentient monster cakes (the food machine has continued to evolve the definition of “ultimate”); additionally, a group of alien scavengers assumed the pods contained dead people and have arrived to steal whatever spoon-like objects they can find. This British import is goofy fun from the first page, and Astra, a perfect mix of ingenious, precocious, and excitable, will grab readers right away. Frequent full-page and spot illustrations show off the imaginative aliens, robots, and cakes, reinforcing the campy 1960s sci-fi vibe with the orange hues and big, clunky machinery. Readers will undoubtedly finish the book feeling like they’ve had a ridiculous, satisfying adventure and wishing they could have just one try at the Nom-O-Tron to create their own perfect snack.
