A piece of cake

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

When Mrs Large decides she is too fat, she puts the whole family on a diet. Biscuits and crisps are out, healthy meals and healthy jogs are in. But for hungry elephants, dieting is definitely not a piece of cake.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Perhaps elephants are meant to be fat, but Mrs. Large puts her family on a diet anyway‘until they are undone by a cake that arrives as a gift. Ages 5-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

There is much from family life in these two humorous stories about the Larges, a family of six elephants. In [cf2]Cake[cf1] Mrs. Large puts the family on a healthy diet only to have it sabotaged by a cake from Granny. In [cf2]Quiet Night[cf1], Mrs. L. tries to get her children to bed early so she and Mr. Large can celebrate his birthday, but the parents fall asleep, and the children celebrate. Warm colored pencil illustrations add realistic details to the texts. From HORN BOOK Spring 1999, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

A portly mother elephant, Mrs. Large (of Five Minutes' Peace, 1986) decides that she's fat, though her children disagree: ""You're our cuddly mommy. . .just right."" Nevertheless, she puts the whole family on a stern regimen of exercise and healthy food, to no avail: ""Perhaps elephants are meant to be fat,"" says little Luke. Joy is restored when Mrs. Large herself sneaks down to the kitchen for a midnight snack--only to find that the rest of the family has saved her the last piece of the forbidden cake sent by Granny. There's a niche ready-made for a book that says it's okay to be fat; this one, with its earnest, anxious elephants dutifully squeezed into running togs, makes the point with winsome good humor. A portrait of the family collapsed in an affectionate heap after their unaccustomed exertions is especially appealing. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.