The Secret Ingredient - Paul Castle - ★★★★

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AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Paul Castle
SERIES: Pringle & Finn, #2
GENRE: Children's Picture Book
PUBLICATION DATE: December 1, 2023
RATING: 4 stars.


In a Nutshell: The “Pengroom” Penguins return in another adorable picture book. Sweet story, gorgeous illustrations. Somewhat similar to the first book in vibe, which is fine because the first book also was lovely. Much recommended.


Plot Preview:
Pringle and Finn still love making cakes, but they have now moved on the birthday cakes. For each of their animals friends, they make memorable birthday cakes that reflect their taste. Each cake contains a special ingredient. Then comes a very special day, and a very special delivery, requiring a very special “birth”-day cake.


After enjoying ‘The Pengrooms’, I just had to jump to the next book in the series. The main characters in this book are the same, but the story works well as a standalone, so you needn’t read the series in order.
The story is somewhat similar to that of the first book in storyline except that it’s birthday cakes this time instead of wedding cakes. The ending, yet again, has a nice little surprise. This storyline is inspired by an actual incident, where two male gentoo penguins adopted and raised two chicks together, inadvertently becoming a symbol for the pride movement in Australia. How sweet is that!

Every cake made by Pringle and Finn contains a secret ingredient, but not in the way you would assume. I love how the secret ingredient is different for each cake. It shows how the clever bakers customise their cakes for each client.

Just as in the first book, this story too has several same-sex couples, and their presence is shown as routinely as possible. I love how inclusive this makes the story feel. It’s a world where no one looks down on same-sex couples, and no same-sex couple needs to justify or defend their rights to love the partner they want. One can only wish for such freedom in the real world.

Each page has only 1-2 sentences, making this a simple option for young readers. The vocabulary is also easy with some nice repetition and action words. The “slow dancing sloths” were my favourite.

The illustrations are yet again the icing on the cake. I am awestruck by how Paul can sketch and colour this impressively with such limited vision. (At present, he has 95% vision loss due to a progressive retinal disease.) I feel sad that he won't be able to nurture his talent once his vision is completely gone, which is an inevitability. He is just in his mid-thirties, so he would have had a long career ahead in other circumstances.

Once again, I had to access this from the author’s YouTube channel as the book isn’t available in my library. His narration is impeccable. His husband’s Matthew’s enthusiastic violin rendition of ‘The Bare Necessities’ in the background makes this video a satisfying sensory experience.

The third book in the series is newly released, so I don’t think he will put up a read-aloud version of it soon. But I will try my best to keep an eye out for it as I wouldn’t want to miss out on the pen-baby story.

Definitely recommended to little readers wanting a lovely inclusive story with some amazing animals and even more amazing cakes.

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