Happy Birthday, Alice Babette [Hardcover]

It’s Alice’s birthday! But her friend Gertrude seems to have forgotten. No matter, Alice goes out and enjoys her day just the same. A beautiful spring afternoon in Paris — what could be better? Little does she know that her dear friend has a few surprises up her sleeve.

While Alice spends the day walking around Paris — riding a carousel in the park and watching a puppet show — Gertrude turns her attention to the kitchen. She is determined to make a lavish dinner with all of Alice’s favorite things and write a poem to match the occasion.

But the lure of the perfect poetic line proves to be too distracting, and just as Alice’s day takes an exciting and unexpected turn, Gertrude’s big dinner falls all to pieces. The poem turns out beautifully, of course, but the house is a bit of a mess. It’s a good thing Alice doesn’t mind cleaning up. And that she has such a good brownie recipe for their guests.

Inspired by the lives of artist Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Monica Kulling’s warm and whimsical narration is perfectly balanced by Qin Leng’s bright and energetic illustrations. This is a sweetly joyful story of love, friendship and creative inspiration.

It’s unlikely that the book’s audience will have heard of this couple, but no matter; a birthday surprise upturned and righted is always cause for delight. —School Library Journal

Leng’s (A Walk on the Shoreline) airy ink drawings bring just the right chic Parisian energy to this odd-couple story. —Publishers Weekly

A rose is a rose, and loving friendship is loving friendship, as this sweet celebration makes clear. —Kirkus Reviews

The cartoonish, fine-lined ink illustrations . . . capture the sunny energy of a Paris springtime. —Booklist

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