cover image PINKY'S SWEET TOOTH

PINKY'S SWEET TOOTH

Michelle Malkin, . . Dutton, $15.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-525-47088-5

With the motto "Vegetables can wait—dessert comes first," this light and fluffy tale serves up a message about hard work, ingenuity and success. Artist Malkin (Blanche and Smitty) makes her authorial debut with this tale of Aunt Pinky, an independent, pink-haired alligator who tries to drum up business for her bakery by entering a county fair bakeoff. Narrator Lulu, her niece, helps out at her aunt's bakery, Pinky's Sweet Tooth. The narrative sometimes lacks snap, but the comically detailed illustrations inject the visual equivalent of a sugar rush. Malkin stuffs the candy-hued cartoons, enclosed in wavy ribbons of color, chock full of chocolaty treats and expressive alligators. Pinky's tenacious drive to succeed results in an all-night cooking marathon to create a multi-dessert masterpiece that does not garner first prize ("That looks like more than one dessert to me," says the mayor/judge), but yields an abundance of decadent sweets with names like Triple Chocolate Frenzy Tortes. Youngsters may miss the moral and the humor in the top prize winner—a no-fat, no-sugar piece of crumb cake—but the orange- and purple-haired alligators in tropical tops and Florida sweatshirts will amuse readers with their garish apparel and wide, toothy smiles. Ages 3-8. (Feb.)