"Romesh Ranganathan’s whips up a funny, feel-good children’s book."
September 2023 Debut of the Month
School life, family life, baking, rap, and a giant rabbit called Graham; Romesh Ranganathan whips them all together in his debut novel for children to create a funny, feel-good story that will thoroughly entertain readers.
Twelve-year-old James has a passion for baking, possibly as a means to distract him from his feelings about his dad who has recently left him and his mum. When a teacher, noticing he’s upset, suggests James focus on what he enjoys and set up a bake sale in school things start well but quickly turn bad.
School bully, the (typically) much-admired Alfie Adams declares James’ cakes inedible and nicknames him Scabby Bake. They get worse still when James challenges Alfie to a rap battle, losing in spectacular style. But there’s nothing wrong with James’ cakes or his rap skills, the opposite in fact, and a competition organised by star rapper Brukka is the opportunity for James to show everyone what he’s made of, after another few bumps in the road/eggshell in the batter of course.
We’re with James every step of the way and readers will enjoy his eventual triumph as much as he does. Both he and Brukka show us that being true to yourself is what matters and that’s something we could all take to heart.
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A fun book! The characters are great! James is my favourite as he can bake cakes and rap! Brilliant pictures and a good storyline!
I enjoyed this book as I really liked James. He is very different and makes amazing cakes! I loved the character Brukka too as he is so funny. The book has great pictures and I liked the storyline and ending. I had fun reading out the rapping parts aloud to my mum and brother! This a good book for 9 to 10 year olds.... Read Full Review
Books like these might inspire kids to create music!
The book was really good. I liked how they made Bruker look like Romesh Ranganathan. It was really funny. The part I found the funniest was being squashed by a giant muffin and it was his pet! The font for the rap was big and bold so I could tell it was a rap, that was cool. This book would be really good for children around 8-10 years old.... Read Full Review
