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Summary
Summary
Bestselling award-winners Don and Audrey Wood celebrate your birthday with the best party in the world!Happy Birthday to you! Today is the most exciting day of the year, and the Birthday Queen knows exactly how to fill it with fun surprises! From decorating your home to baking your favorite cake, the Birthday Queen doesn't forget a thing as she creates a party beyond your wildest dreams!Children will crow with delight as she tests a wild assortment of games and clowns, wraps your gifts, and splashes the kitchen with huge bowls of colorful frosting. Here come your guests! Now it's time to celebrate!Known for their warmth and imagination, Audrey and Don Wood create a story that crackles with the excitement of the best homemade birthday parties. Their simple narrative speaks directly to the child: You! And who is the Birthday Queen? In a sweet, satisfying ending, the amazing woman who made your special birthday party is revealed to be the person who loves you most--your mother!Children will be begging to read this all year round!
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
If Christmas has Santa Claus and teeth have the Tooth Fairy, why not a Birthday Queen for birthdays? The Woods (It's Duffy Time!) imagine a magical, multitasking regent who's an indefatigable combination of party planner, Under-writers Laboratory ("When her clowns are invited to parties, the Birthday Queen must make sure they are funny"), fixer (if the bakery screws up a cake order, she whips up a substitute), and hostess with the mostess. Any resemblance between the Birthday Queen and a young celebrant's mother, is, of course, coincidental. Audrey Wood's short, breezy prose and Don Wood's candy-colored spreads, which mingle slapstick with surrealism, hold sentimentality at bay; a gift-wrapping scene is a riot of wrapping paper, tape, and birthday magic, which comes courtesy of the queen's three wands. But let's face it: this is a tribute intended to spark at least the flickers of gratitude in the hearts of birthday boys and girls. As such, it's more likely to be appreciated by Birthday Queens themselves (or anyone else who's helmed a children's party) than by those whose birthdays are being celebrated. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
The Birthday Queen is preparing for "your" party; she has birds deliver the invitations, takes over for the palace pastry chefs, etc. There are hints in the luminous art that this might not be a fairy tale after all (the party guests resemble modern-day kids), but readers won't guess the solid-gold twist: turns out the tireless queen is "your mother. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The Birthday Queen does everything possible to make sure birthday celebrations are perfect. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Invitations need to be written and sent. Clowns must be carefully screened. And of course, every single birthday game must be tried and approved. But when it comes to readers' birthdays? The Birthday Queen steps it up a notch. She whips up a celebration at a moment's notice, complete with cake to exact specifications, beautifully wrapped presents and balloons that fly into place as soon as the guests arrive. Just who is the Birthday Queen? If "you" look closely--the narration is in the second person--beneath the jeweled crown and past the bright rainbow dress, readers just may recognize someone special in their own family (so long as their mothers are white and present). In a wild frenzy reminiscent of a Candy Land board explosion, colors burst forth from every page. The Birthday Queen herself is not pretty in pink; she is a brightly rouged, belly-laughing, apple-cheeked blonde. Kids will get swept up in the birthday excitement, while adult readers will recognize the small moments of manic preparation--which always "magically" turn out in the end. It's just too bad, given the seemingly inclusive direct address, that this queen-cum-mom is ethnically specific, leaving kids whose moms are not white out in the cold. A sly, though problematic, nod of appreciation to mothers, hidden behind streamers, confetti and a mouthful of cake. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Haven't heard of the Birthday Queen? Oh, she is impressive. She lives at the Birthday Palace, getting everything ready for your special day: writing invitations, testing games, frosting cakes. When she snaps her fingers, balloons and decorations fly into place. A Day-Glo-bright spread shows how the queen welcomes the guests (bearing gifts, of course) into the party. Throughout, the beneficiary of all this bountiful birthdayness is left open-ended. But the last page offers a clue. It's you, the reader and the birthday queen, with crown removed, is your mom. The Woods winningly expand all the excitement and anticipation that come with birthday parties. Children, streamers, and cakes crowd the pages and spill off in different directions (this is especially true of the cake frosting). The queen, who appears larger than life in most of the action-filled spreads, is at her sweetest alone and revealed on the last page. A fun reminder for kids about who makes the world go round.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist