The Café at the Edge of the Woods

Rene is a window cleaner who dreams of cooking and serving the finest cuisine. However, when she saves enough to build her own café at the edge of the woods, the only waiter she can find is a rather strange, green creature called Glumfoot and her only customer is, well, an ogre. 

Rene considers giving up; the ogre demands bats, slugs, and maggots while she wants to serve the richest truffles and cheddar tarts. But, by dressing up her haute cuisine as ghoulish snails and mice, her food goes down a treat and the café quickly becomes a thriving spot for all the mythical inhabitants of the woods.   

This is an innovative, rhyming picture book and one which is brimming with personality. Many features of the story will appeal to young readers, including yucky food, magical creatures, and slapstick humour. 

The illustrations stand out with their intricate details, muted colour palette, and characterful expressions. There is plenty here for young readers to spot, including creatures that might be recognised from other tales. 

This book would work well as an inspiration for fun cooking activities with children, especially the creative element of disguising tasty food as a yucky, ogre’s lunch! Could you trick a troll into eating their greens?