The Birthday Cake Mystery (review)

The story of this wordless picture book (imported from the Netherlands and illustrated by Indonesian-born Tjong-Khing) unfolds on the title page: the female half of a clothes-wearing dog couple is plagued by a fly while her male counterpart is putting the finishing touches on the titular birthday cake. The next spread widens the view, showing a handful of small cube-like cottages and their inhabitants, all busy outdoors with various activities. The female dog launches an attack on the fly that topples numerous objects onto her partner's cake, a pig mother scolds her child for spilling a can of paint (and doesn't notice—but a raccoon does—that her necklace is hanging temptingly out of her purse), a bear takes photos, and a child's birthday party is in progress. "Reading" Tjong-Khing's line-and-watercolor art is an utterly absorbing activity. There are multiple storylines to follow, and all of them offer the viewer something engaging and entertaining. The "mystery" of the title probably refers to the unknown birthday celebrant (which is revealed at the book's end), but there's also a crime to be solved: the case of necklace theft is eventually cracked by the pig parents, thanks to the bear's photographic evidence and other clues. Each spread also reveals a new development in ongoing subplots: the poor dog who keeps having unfortunate things happen to his cakes, the bunny child having a tantrum, the two rats or mice who keep picking on a squirrel child. The thinly outlined animals and objects are dynamically posed against a verdant background of meadow and forest, and the numerous small, significant details, as well as the challenge of following the story threads, will keep viewers poring over the pictures for quite a while. This will hold great appeal for many children (and their adults), especially those who enjoy Richard Scarry, Mitsumasa Anno, or Arthur Geisert and those who hate to read and/or write but love to draw.