• Christ’s Cake
• Author: Carolyn Snelling
• Illustrator: Lon Eric Craven
• Publisher: Tate Publishing
• ISBN-10: 1622951794
• ISBN-13: 978-1622951796
• SRP: $21.99
• Reviewed by: Beth Bence Reinke

Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Christ’s Cake is the story of five-year-old Jackson, who is cast as an angel in a Christmas play. But Jackson gets a different kind of cast after he falls and hurts himself. Will a broken arm keep him from playing his part as an angel?

Through Jackson’s eyes, children are introduced to Jesus on a personal level, which may open the door to further discussion of faith. Jackson learns about the unconditional love Jesus has for him, stirring his heart to give back. Readers may be inspired to join with Jackson’s family in a holiday tradition – baking a special birthday cake to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

The illustrations added depth and emotion to the story. I especially enjoyed the expressive faces of people (and animals) throughout the book.

The book has one minor caveat related to food safety. When they baked a cake in the story, Jackson “got to lick the spoons.” Unless you’re mixing a cake without raw eggs, eating the batter is not recommended, due to risk of Salmonella.

As a bonus, there are two coloring pages in the back of the book. Parents can help children upload scanned images of their colored birthday cake pages to the author’s “online bakery” on the book’s website. Fun! 🙂 I recommend this book for families, churches and Christian school libraries, at Christmastime or throughout the year.

This is my own honest opinion and I received no monetary compensation of any kind for my review.