Cavekid Birthday

(Hardback)

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Description

Gift giving during the Stone Age gets tricky when Caveboy and Cavegirl share the same birthday. Still, the celebration is not without humor and a twist ending in this prehistoric retelling of "The Gift of Magi." Caveboy has quite the rock collection. Cavegirl adores her tool collection. As their big day approaches, Cavegirl trades her beloved tool collection for a special gift for Caveboy. Meanwhile Caveboy trades his treasured rock collection for a special gift for Cavegirl. When it's time to exchange presents, these two cavekids are in for one mammoth surprise.

Reviews

Breisacher and Garrigue explore the timeless fun of gift exchange. Neighbors Caveboy and Cavegirl are best friends who do everything together. The pair shares interests in pet racing, stone tossing, painting on wallsa joy shared by all children since the very beginning of timeas well as their birthday. As it approaches, Cavegirl becomes frantic to make the perfect gift, but a mishap involving her pet bear sends her to Caveman's Collectibles to pick out the perfect present. Since money has yet to be invented, Cavegirl trades her tools for a box. Caveboy also considers the perfect gift before trading his precious rocks fora box. The two best friends make the best of their gifts, but eventually it's back to Caveman's Collectibles for another trade. In exchange for their things, they do some gnarly interior decorating for Cavemanmoney may not have been invented yet, but paint, ladders, and balloons are readily available! The scratchy line-and-color illustrations share an aesthetic with The Flintstones, with the uniformly pale-skinned characters sporting hide clothing and bone accessories. The message will resonate with generations of readersthe simplicity of a box combined with imagination crosses time and gender. However, the protagonists' binary names are not inclusive of gender fluidity. The faux primitive grammar ("Me like.Trade good") gives character to the dialogue but may also confuse emerging readers. Book sweet.
Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Cathy Breisacher is the author of Petunia Pepper's Picture Day, a winner of the Eastern PA SCBWI Writers Conference book award. Cathy is a school guidance counselor.