With a plucky strawberry ice cream cone as the flawed hero and plenty of food puns to keep the story running, Sweet Success is a darling children’s book promoting creativity and gumption. Sprinkle Dee Scoops needs to finish a birthday present for her friends, the twin cherries. But Scoops can never seem to follow through on her projects, that is, until she finds herself accidentally on the course of a race. Along the way, anthropomorphic foods cheer her along—cue an orange holding up a sign, “pulp up the volume”—and encourage her to make it to the finish line as her “cold thoughts … melted away.”
Maryland couple Liz and Jimmy Reed used dental floss, coffee grounds and gum wrappers for the homemade props shot within their hand-sculpted dioramas. This cheery, endearing book proves perseverance, and friendship, is its own sweet gift.
