The Quokka Logic and Baking Book

This book accompanies the novels in the Elastic Island Adventures series, where readers will have previously been introduced to quokkas.

I must confess, I didn't try any of the recipes in this book, but they come with the assurance that they have all been tried and tested, especially as more than half of them have been handed down from previous generations. As the winner of the bronze award in the 2023 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, one would expect the recipes to be delicious. I enjoyed seeing images of a couple of the original recipes, handwritten by the author's mother and Nana many years ago in cursive text.

Children may need a little assistance with the recipes. On page 10, when the baker is told to add lemon rind, how is this to have been removed from the lemon? Grated, peeled or sliced?

I would personally have liked a little more consistency with spellings, eg castor on pages 10 and 22, but caster on page 12; yogurt in the ingredients on page 24, whilst in the method on the same page - yoghurt. On page 80 there's also a k missing off the word milk. In the index, there is the wrong spelling of currant used. Of course, these errors do not impair the recipes.

The quokka logic aspect of this book is short, fun sayings that are often illogical They generally don't relate to the recipe they are with, but are there purely to amuse.

As is popular with cookbooks, the pages are spiral-bound to ensure they sit flat when open. However, this binding is not popular with librarians as pages are more prone to being torn or removed.