McTavish Takes the Cake

When Pa Peachey becomes comically ambitious about entering a town baking competition, family dog McTavish wisely cooks up a plan to rescue him from himself.

Pa Peachey has gotten it in his head that he is going to be the baker in the family, and the Peacheys and their dog, McTavish, are more than a little surprised. Stunned, in fact. Ever since Ma Peachey declared herself free of the cooking responsibilities, Betty, Ava, and Ollie have taken turns making inventive and delicious meals. But Pa thinks he can do better, even though his cakes are as flat as manhole covers and his cookies turn to charcoal. When the town announces a baking competition with a big prize, Pa is convinced he will enter an absolute masterpiece. Now the Peacheys have to decide: should they be honest with Pa and tell him his confections are contemptible, or should they support his high-flying dreams? Or could McTavish have a last-minute option at the ready?

Meg Rosoff is the author of Good Dog, McTavish and McTavish Goes Wild, as well as numerous other novels for adults, young adults, and children, including How I Live Now and Jonathan Unleashed. She is also the coauthor, with Mal Peet, of Beck. Winner of the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, a Michael L. Printz Award, and a Carnegie Medal, Meg Rosoff lives in London.

Grace Easton studied at Central Saint Martins, Brighton University, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design and is now a freelance illustrator who spends her days drawing, painting, and telling stories with pictures. She lives in London.