The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please
on October 1, 2024
ISBN: 0063345498
Genres: Fantasy, Humor
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

I have been holding off on writing a review about this one. If I could, I would give it 4 ½ stars. If you like the humor in Jon Klassen books, you will likely enjoy this one, too. Rene opens a café beside an enchanted forest and hires Glumfoot, a gnomish-like creature, as a waiter. Nobody shows up to sample her fine cuisine so Glumfoot goes out into the forest to solicit a customer. An ogre comes to the café and orders pickled bats, slugs, and battered mice! Rene cooks a bowl of rice but Glumfoot transforms it into a maggot fondue. The ogre loves it and returns with his friends. Rene  and Glumfoot make a great team and the café is a success. The cartoon-like illustrations are colorful and appealing. Not surprising since Mikey Please is an award winning animator. The plot is taut and the rhyming solid. Some may be disturbed by the disgusting dishes and  “A bag of bats! That smells like fart!” Others will be enchanted and find it hilarious. Choose your audience.

Barb Rehmeyer, Liberty Library