Strawberry's Sweet Surprise:

In Strawberry's Sweet Surprise, Strawberry Shortcake's many friends were included, even her cat! Seeing all those friends gathering and preparing for a special occasion was amazing! It brang me my childhood memories of watching the show.

Publishing Date: 4th November 2025

Thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Strawberry shortcake was one of my favourite shows as a child. Reading the book felt like a trip to my childhood. I loved the storyline and the illustrations.

classic story and art of strawberry shortcake made into a scratch and sniff book
7 fruit scents to stimulate a multisensory experience
Huckleberry (huck to 90s kids) is having a bad day so the berry friends explore their garden for fruit and flowers to make a berry special surprise

Strawberry's Sweet Surprise is a cute new scratch-and-sniff board book. Introduce your little ones to my favorite classic kid character, Strawberry Shortcake. In this cheerful world, you will find a short tale of colorful kindness and sweet scents! Strawberry Shortcake and friends explore the garden of sweet fruits and friendly flowers with a berry special surprise.

Oh, what a nostalgic treat it was to read this Tommy Nelson board book. I read the digital ARC edition so missed out on the full experience. However, I will purchase the physical board book when it releases in November for my 3-year-old niece. It will be great bonding time reading it together!

Strawberry's Sweet Surprise is a great addition to the library of parents, grandparents, aunts, daycare and montessori teachers for readers under four years old. Your literary little one(s) will love the multisensory experience that promotes word recognition, fruit identification, color association and art. The illustration is top tier!

Happy Early Pub Day, Strawberry Shortcake! Strawberry's Sweet Surprise will be available Tuesday, November 4.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

Beautiful illustrations, easy-to-read fonts for early readers, and the sweetest story of friendship! My son is an early reader and we loved reading this book together.

As a teacher, I would prefer books not to be scratch and sniff for my classroom, but I am sure that young children would love it. The story is simple, but a good level for young readers. I am certain that many of my first graders would enjoy this book.

Thank you to Tommy Nelson and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Loved it! The overarching message was heartwarming and I adored the sweet surprise at the end. Also, the attention to the details of the illustrations was so charming. Highly recommend to little readers!

My daughter loved this book. I read it to her for bedtime and she loved looking at the pictures, she loved the colours and the fruit!!

This was a short and sweet story about kindness and friendship. It does a good job incorporating colors and fruits that children can learn in a fun way! I adored the colorful illustrations! I would absolutely read this to my toddler.
I read an online copy but I know the physical book would be even better with the scratch and sniff element.

Strawberry’s Sweet Surprise is a short book for ages 0-4. It’s a scratch and sniff which I would have loved to experience. I used to love the smell of these characters when I was a little girl. It shows the importance of friendship. While the friends were picking things from the garden to make something special for Lemon Meringue, who couldn’t be there with them , Lemon Meringue was building a table for the friends to sit together at to share their treats and picks from the garden.
It was a sweet book teaching kindness, thoughtfulness, friendship, remembering your friends. I loved the colorful illustrations. It was very nostalgic since I loved Strawberry Shortcake and her friends from childhood till now.

Thank you #netgalley

This was such an adorable story!! My only complaint is that I wish it would be longer ☺️ These types of cute stories are exactly what I want for my future children!
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I received a complimentary arc copy from NetGalley and Tommy Nelson. All opinions listed are purely my own.

I was given an ARC of this book on Net Galley in exchange for a review. This was a very cute story and was so nostalgic!

My 4 year old says “5 stars! I LOVED it! But I didn’t really like the outfits.” Apparently they were princessy enough. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

A pretty cute, pretty standard Strawberry Shortcake story! I really like that they went with the classic style for the illustrations!

SO ADORABLE!!! I already love Strawberry Shortcake so much, and this book was not a disappointment at all! The story was very simple and to-the-point, while still being exciting and fun, which makes this an utterly perfect pick for so many young readers. However, in my opinion, the area where this book truly shined was in the illustrations. The color scheme was somewhere between vibrant and pastel (BEAUTIFUL), no detail was left out, and each character had their own unique look, which is what I love to see.
All in all, I loved this book!!!

Adorable sweet story for toddlers to learn about kindness and friendship. Loved the artwork in this book and the sweet story teaching kids about kindness.

I love Strawberry Shortcake and this was such a fun story! I love that we're getting new stuff for this IP, I'm excited for kids who may not know about her to get to see new stuff!

This book was a very short and sweet story among friends. I loved that the friends all cared so much for each other. It was a thoughtful book and had a great lesson to learn! KINDNESS!

I got to watch the Strawberry Shortcake series for a very short time when I was a kid, and it became a core memory! I absolutely loved the stories and the art so much! It was so wonderful to see this picture book up for review. It's equally beautiful and the story is so adorable, about friends supporting each other and the importance of community. The illustrations are gorgeous! Reading this made me so nostalgic and I had a great time!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Strawberry Shortcake as a child. This book filled me with so much nostalgia. Both the pictures and story are so adorable!

I’ve been a Strawberry Shortcake fan for my entire life and Strawberry’s Sweet Surprise doesn’t disappoint. Thomas Nelson’s latest installment in this much-loved series is filled with all of our favorite characters and an extra cute message about friendship. My kindergarten class would be thrilled to listen to this and they would adore the beautiful illustrations.