A review by panda_incognito
I Really Want The Cake by Lucia Gaggiotti, Simon Philip

2.0

The illustrations are full of energy and emotion, but the story has two major flaws. It's clear from the beginning that the little girl's experience of temptation and loss of self-control are the driving forces of this story, but one expects some kind of resolution at the end where she apologizes, receives some kind of consequence for her action, and restores her relationship with her mother. Nothing of the kind ever happens. Her mom never appears on the page, and the open-ended ending feels incredibly unsatisfying, since you need the mom's reaction for the story to feel complete.

Also, the illustrations show the girl eating this chocolate cake WITH HER DOG, even though chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Nothing about the story acknowledges this. It's alarming to see the dog eating the cake and getting its face covered in chocolate, and this can be dangerous in the real world for actual dogs, if kids have seen fictional dogs eat chocolate without consequences and don't realize they can't share a chocolate treat with their pet.