Review: How We Share Cake

This rather gorgeous story from acclaimed author/illustrator Kim Hyo-eun, is told in the voice of a little Korean girl who is one of five children. 

Everything about How We Share Cake feels fresh, shiny and new. It’s a total delight.

Our narrator tells us that ‘we can split anything.’ She then explains how to divide an orange or a pie five ways, and the optimal place to sit at the dinner table… (There’s no contest - one is closer to the delicious egg rolls and another is next to the youngest child, with his sticky little grabbing toddler hands).

Although the opening pages share Korean words and name-customs, the book is first and foremost about showing people everywhere, about all the ways to share and look after each other, even when things are going wrong. 

The story is supported and enhanced by pencil and watercolour images which, with their qualities of texture, light and place, invite you to reach out and touch them. These illustrations are cleverly crafted to look simple, scribbly and a little bit random. They are wonderful and divine – especially each child’s very distinctive hair-do. You cant mix them up, even if you try!

In exploring the dynamics of both connection and division, How We Share Cake offers up a unique sense of fun, excitement, family and community – and it does so with whimsy and joy.

A delightful offering.

Title: How We Share Cake
Author/Illustrator: Kim Hyo-eun
Publisher: Scribble, $24.99
Publication Date: 8 Oct 2024
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781761380655
For Ages: 3 - 6
Type: Picture Book