Mix A Pancake by Christina Rossetti and Monique Felix: A Review
This article first appeared in the NY Journal of Books on 14 March 2024.
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“Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan,
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake—
Catch it if you can.”
Mix a Pancake, the latest book illustrated by Monique Felix for Creative Editions, an imprint of The Creative Company, is a kitten-filled visual feast akin to the Little Golden Books that have lined children’s bookshelves since 1942. This comes as no surprise, given that The Creative Company, itself, was founded just 10 years earlier, in 1932.
The text was written by the famed Victorian poet Christina Rossetti in 1893 and totals only six simple lines. But each word is brought to life by Monique Felix’s cuddly and humorous illustrations, which depict kittens of nearly every color as they attempt to make themselves a pancake breakfast while their mother is away. Children, young and old, who like kittens and cats will enjoy the bodily and facial expressions of the mischievous feline characters as they turn their workplace from a kitchen to a playground, complete with a tablecloth slide and a pitching mound for pancake throwing.
The book is composed of 14 seven-by-seven-inch heavy cardboard pages, the perfect size and sturdiness for toddler hands to flip through again and again, which they will want to do merely to gaze at the adorable antics of the kittens inside. The front cover portrays a standard pancake recipe, the ingredients of which would perfectly accompany the book when given as a gift— baby’s first bake, perhaps? Just be prepared to make a mess!
