A Piece of Cake by Jill Murphy (Illustrator)

Mrs. Large, that peerless pachyderm parent last seen in Five Minutes' Peace , makes a return engagement. This time, she decides that she's just a tad too elephantine (as her baby succinctly puts it, "Mummy's got wobbly bits"). Accordingly, she dons an enormous orange sweatsuit emblazoned with the word "FIT" and puts her reluctant husband and the four little Larges on a diet. There's watercress soup, grated carrots and other unappetizing fare, as well as lots of jogging. Nothing seems to work, however, and the fitness kick is undermined by the arrival of a cake from Granny. None of the Larges can resist its sugary allure, and in a hilarious climax they unwittingly rendezvous in the kitchen for a midnight snack. Murphy's drawings are both delicate and droll (the sight of Mrs. Large tiptoeing determinedly to the kitchen in nightgown and curlers is particularly memorable), and the tale's message--that it's important to love yourself the way you are--will strike a universal chord in readers.
Reading level: Baby-Preschool