Book Review - 'The Café at the Edge of the Woods' by Mikey Please

'The Café at the Edge of the Woods' is a very funny picture book for all ages and genders.

It is about an ordinary woman, Rene, who builds with her own two hands a café at the edge of the woods (as you do). It turns out she lives in a fantasy and fairy tale world, and upon opening her café she employs a little green guy named Glumfoot as a waiter (he's the only applicant to show). In order for her business to succeed, Rene has to learn to cook for all kinds of customers, such as giant ogres. This chef needs to learn to cope, adapt, and not judge, and alter old recipes, and try new ones.

The artwork is great, bold, rustic, shadowy, cartoony and expressive. The narrative is told in rhyme, though not always consistently, at least on the ending verses. There is a good, solid message about tolerance, adapting to change, never giving up your dreams, and growing and developing in your craft and talents, and expanding your horizons, for "fine cuisine" can mean different things to different people.

Rene could be described as "a smallminded chef with big dreams", which is an oxymoron that she needs to fix, pronto.

The humour is on point, for anyone of any age, gender, background, brow metric, and taste. Heh.

(The book's jokes are better than mine, I assure you).

'The Café at the Edge of the Woods' reminds me strongly of 'Imelda and the Goblin King', 'Julia's House for Lost Creatures', 'Heckedy Peg', 'A Spoonful of Frogs', and 'The Bakery Dragon'.

Fun is on the menu!

Funny, fantasy, folklore, often fetid and foul, foodie stuff, prepared by a fine writer and artist chef de cuisine, Mikey Please.

Final Score: 4/5