Pugly Bakes a Cake

Pugly Bakes a Cake by Pamela Butchart is a silly, shouty story for 5 year olds about a pug who has decided he is going to win a television baking competition.

What happens

Pugly tells it himself. He would prefer you called him Tobias Roberto Mozzarella Pugly, because Pugly is just a dog's name and he is much more than a dog.

He has BIG IDEAS. Clem the cat thinks his ideas are ridiculous and tells him so roughly every two minutes.

Those two are the best part of the book. Clem once got Pugly out of a wellington boot by pushing him down the stairs. It worked. He is fairly sure she enjoyed it.

He has also worked out why she is so grumpy with him. Clem had their girl Maddy all to herself before he and Clive the fish came along.

Then Maddy leaves for school and the baking begins. Pugly gets out a notepad to draw up plans, then remembers that plans are boring and make his pug brain feel like scrambled eggs. So he just starts.

He makes himself a chef's hat out of kitchen roll. He sieves the flour from a great height. He uses four whisks at once, because Clem is pretending to be asleep with one eye open and he knows she is watching.

Clem commentates the whole disaster from the worktop. The mixture is a funny colour. There is shell in it. She reckons it will taste like feet.

Any parent who has baked with a small child will recognise every bit of this.

For a new reader the joy is how much of Pugly's thinking you get. He is never once put off. Being told his idea is terrible just makes him more determined, and he honestly cannot see why ten layers might be a lot.

The important words are in CAPITALS all over the page, which makes it very good to read aloud and easy for a child to shout along with.

There is nothing to flag in these opening chapters. The cat is rude about the dog and the dog is smug about the cat.

What to read next

Fenway and Hattie is another one where the pet does the talking. Fenway is a Jack Russell who is convinced squirrels have stolen his family's belongings, when really his humans are packing up to move.