Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon [#13] (2010)
December 8, 2011 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: BUBBOON’S TUNES-“The Cheese Song” (2002).
This song was picked as the number one song on Kids’ Corner for 6 years in a row.
It’s a strange song to have won the hearts of so many listeners. It’s simple and pleasant enough with a humorous content (gouda, gouda gouda, the cheese that’s never rude-a).
And yes, it is very easy to sing along to (cheese, cheese, cheese, wonderful cheese). And heck, I love a song about SPAM, so who am I to question this delicious foodstuff. I’m just kind of baffled as to why this song is so very popular.
Having said that, I don’t want to make it seem that I don’t like the song (the gorgonzola bit is rather amusing). It’s silly and catchy and fun and I can imagine 7-year-old boys around the world singing it together. There’s just no accounting for #1 songs. But it’s better than “I Will Always Love You.”
Hear for yourself at the cool Bubboon’s Tunes website.
[READ: December 1, 2011] Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon
This may have been my favorite Babymouse yet. Mostly because it’s all about the library. But also because it seemed to be simply packed with ideas and jokes.
It opens with dreams of Babymouse’s fancy estate where she is just about to be served….tater tots from the lunch line? But soon, Babymouse is off to the library, where we get to meet Mrs Bee the librarian. Babymouse loves books and she’s excited that she gets to search for a lost book, Indiana Jones style.
Most daydreams just embarrass Babymouse, but this one proves to be a disaster when Babymouse falls off a high shelf and grabs onto a pipe for safety. The pipe breaks and sends water spilling through the library and into the school (and there’s very little a library hates more than water).
So to raise money to replace the books and fix the damage, the school is going to have a fund-raiser. And not a lame fund-raiser like everybody does (no popcorn or wrapping paper here), they are going to sell cupcakes! And even better, the kid who sells the most gets a grand prize!
Babymouse can’t wait to win the grand prize, er, I mean, get new books for the library.
But when you live in a town full of kids from your school, and you’re not the fastest one home, well, there’s not too many houses you can go to. And when Felicia Furrypaws proves to have a rather sophisticated advertising campaign behind her (hilarious jokes about ads on the sides of busses and in Time Square), it’ going to be really hard for Babymouse to win.
This book has a great daydream about King Midas who turns everything to gold (the book even mentions Dionysus!).
Finally, Babymouse resorts to the old standard–a corner cupcake stand. Will a rainstorm (of literally cats and dogs) stop her from realizing her dream of winning the best prize ever?
The end of the story is very funny. The joke about the prize is awesome and the fake products that they “advertise” at the end are great.
And, the narrator of the book finally gets a real shout out on the front page and she (he?) even buys a cupcake!
By Book 13, I thought this series might run out of steam, but it certainly hasn’t.
SOUNDTRACK: BUBBOON’S TUNES-“The Cheese Song” (2002).
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