The Cake

Tiger is hungry and suggests to his comrades—Dog, Monkey, Rabbit, and Bear—that they make a cake. Tiger wants chocolate cake, which the others immediately reject; pooling their favorite flavors, they demand a “bone-banana-carrot-and-fish-cake!” The discourse quickly devolves into insults (“You’re revolting!”), threats (“I’ll eat you!”) and—just when it looks like reconciliation is in the offing—classic slapstick. And nobody gets to eat any cake. It’s a slip of a story, but de Monfried’s (Dark Night) simple but highly expressive animal portraits, set against almost existentially blank spreads of shocking pink and dark red, establish an wonderfully oddball and unsentimental mood, while conveying intriguing glints of character. Dog announces he “hates” sugar—what’s up with that?—while Bear rejects a conventional cake and its ingredients by announcing “Flour makes me sad” and striking a pouting, hands-behind-his-back pose that signals a backstory that we’re probably better off not knowing. As for Tiger, his self-righteousness, frustration, and short fuse may remind some adult readers of none other than Louis C.K. Ages 2–up. (Oct.)