This was adorably perfect from the illustrations to the story itself. In fact I loved it so much that I got onto my library website and requested every book they have from this author to see what other gems she wrote!

Castoro ama la precisione: tutto viene preparato, organizzato e pianificato nel minimo dettaglio.

Adesso si avvicina il suo compleanno, e Castoro ha pronta la ricetta della Torta Perfetta: ha lavorato per giorni per costruirla, e non vede l'ora di festeggiare... alla perfezione!

Ma i suoi amici non possono certo tirarsi indietro, e decidono di prendere le cose nelle loro zampe. Certo, non sono precisi, perfezionisti e organizzati... 

Il compleanno perfetto è davvero quello che Castoro aveva immaginato?

Un'altra meravigliosa avventura riccamente illustrata degli amici della foresta, il cui messaggio saggio e intelligente viene trasmesso con ironia e una storia divertente.

Adorabile. <3

I love all of Katy Hudson’s books! This one is about a beaver that wants to make the perfect cake for his birthday. His friends want to help and ruin everything. They put too many ingredients in and it looks nothing like what Beaver wanted. This is a great book about friendship, cooperation and acceptance.

I was given a copy of this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect Birthday Recipe is, in fact, perfect. We can all relate to Beaver's perfectionism and anxiety. The story is handled with humor and honesty and my little boy adored it. The illustrations are whimsical, beautiful, and done with such care, that I'm sure they would meet with even Beaver's high expectations.

Long after we finished reading, my son continued to pour over the pictures and asked if there were more books. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with small children.

Beaver plans his perfect birthday where he plots a huge cake made up of different layers of cake. However as he starts about baking it with his friends it soon goes wrong and after he snaps and bakes it himself realises friends and their feelings matter more than the perfect anything.



All about valuing friendship and with lovely colourful illustrations kids will enjoy this animal packed story!



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Oh man, this book had me giggling A LOT!!!
The story was filled with fun and a little lesson too.
The illustrations beautifully accompany the adorable story.
Thank you NetGalley and Capstone for my DRC.

A beautifully illustrated book, which will have you staring a the pictures, for a long time, looking at all the tiny details. In the story badger learns a lesson about friendship and the fact life does not need to be perfect. A lovely book with a real but gentle message. I will enjoy sharing this with me class.

First, this book is so beautifully illustrated. My son and I were happy just looking at the pictures. But then the story! Oh we loved this story so much. What a great story about friendship. Beaver learned so much about friendship, and what could happen when he was willing to let his need for perfection and control go. I thank Netgalley for this advance copy. I have already pre-ordered this book, and I can not wait to read it to my second grade class in the Spring!

#netgalley #theperfectbirthdayrecipe

3.5- Super cute illustrations! Lots of little details to find, but they're not critical to the story. There are a lot of other stories out there with similar morals to be learned: it's okay not to be perfect, friendship is the key, etc.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Capstone Publishing for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is the first time reading this author. Cute book, great graphics. Beaver is a perfectionist and his birthday cake didn't go as planned! Yikes..Beaver lowest and helps at his friends. This is about control, not being a perfectionist and friendship. Adults and children alike can benefit from this story. 4 stars

I love this author! Her stories are really cute and the characters are memorable. This one features Beaver who is trying to have the perfect birthday. His friends help him make his cake, which turns out not quite up to his standards. After re-making his cake, he realizes that his friends were just trying to help him have a great birthday. The illustrations are done very well and have a lot of "hidden" features to them (a lot happening).

Cute fun story about a beaver learning that it is more fun to do things with your friends than it is by yourself. Illustrations are fun and colorful.

Thank you Netgalley for the Arc

There are many wonderful things about this series, but the last installment is my favorite!! 1) It is published the day before my birthday 2) It involves a birthday theme and 3) Beaver and I share a lot of similarities that remind me as an adult to chill out a little.

My daughter LOVES this series. She loves the animals and how they do goofy things. The illustrations are GORGEOUS and should be an entire review in itself. If you haven't, please do yourself and buy any book of this series for a little one in your life. They will love it. It gave me a new appreciation for winter, made me laugh about bunnies in spring, taught my daughter the important work animals do in the fall and ended with summer on a bright note of sharing important times with your loved ones.

My only regret about this book is that it is her last. I can't wait to see what Ms. Hudson does next!

Thank you to Netgalley, Capstone Publishing and Katy Hudson for the opportunity to read the last of this series and provide and honest review.

Review Date: 8/26/19
Publication Date: 03/02/20

What a lovely book to add to my elementary school collection. Beaver is celebrating his birthday and his fellow animal friends want to help him create his cake. However, Beaver is a perfectionist and the original cake made by all doesn't quite make it..
The message of friendship and collaboration is woven throughout the book. The need to realize that things may not always turn out as desired but can still and should be appreciated is presented beautifully. The illustrations are so vivid. Well done!

I didn't realize this was the fourth book in a series, probably because you don't need to have read any of the other books to get something out of this one. The Perfect Birthday Recipe is a story about perfectionism, control, and friendship, cast with cute critters and one very special birthday cake.

When it's time for Beaver's birthday, he's got his perfect cake already planned out. But his friends want to help, and soon the cake is bursting with flavours that Beaver never expected. The cake is a bit of a disaster, and rather than be grateful for the thoughtfulness of his friends, Beaver is annoyed. He sets out to make another cake--his way--and finally finishes in the middle of the night... at which point there's nobody around to share it with. He comes to realize that maybe friendship is more important than the perfect birthday cake.

I'm having trouble deciding how to review this. The message is great. The illustrations are adorable. But the writing leaves something to be desired. The punctuation needs some work, and the unwieldy dialogue tags kept pulling me out of the flow of the story. (Seriously, how does someone "clap" their words?) Most of the issues with the text would be easily fixable, as they're to do with the technical aspects of the writing and not the story itself.

I definitely want to see some of the author's other work now; her illustrations are very cute. But I'm just not all that impressed by the writing in this book... so I guess my rating is going to have to be somewhere in the middle.