This is a great book that teaches kids to trust and that it's okay if you make mistakes - you can always work through them.

I downloaded this book because my 4-yo daughter picked it out and because I loved the multi-cultural family in the cover. Something about it reminded me of living in Singapore <3

It’s my first honeycake book and I think it’s a lovely story to have a conversation with a kid about trust and what to do when you make a mistake.

As much as I loved the message behind this book, I thought it was a very long winded way to teach your child to always be honest, and my 4 year old was honestly losing interest in listening very quickly.
Maybe it would be more suited to older children who have a better attention span when a book isn't short, snappy chapters.
Great book, but just not for us I'm afraid.

Nala learned one valuable lesson that evening, and it was all about trust. Her parents didn’t put the strap to her, no sirree. The put her to sit and play a game with her, explaining all as they go along. A unique and fun way of teaching your kids, about good morals and principles, with trust as the foundation.

Thank you for providing me with this book, #NetGalley !

This is a very recommended book for all ages, mostly if you're a parent, you have to read this book then read it to your kids. Sometimes, as parents, we forgot to rein our anger to our kids, breaking the circle of trust. The author reminds us on the fragility of the circle, and how much a parent or a child should chip in to build a stronger circle.

I like the message here and this is definitely an instructional story as opposed to an enjoyment story. It’s calculated and walks you through how to maintain trust with clear adult lines that might be said.

The art felt low budget and I hope it gets elevated to make the story be a bit more engaging/ dynamic. I didn’t find this delightful to read, but I definitely see it’s use value as an instructional tool as opposed to a lecture etc. I really appreciate it for that.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A sweet story teaching a little circle about the circle of trust. Nama breaks something and is scared to tel her parents. They teach her about trust using a tower and how important it is not to break trust. She realizes she shouldn’t be scared to be honest. The illustrations are great and bring the story to live. I enjoyed this very much and think it’s perfect to teach young kids about trust and honesty.

Thanks to netgalley, Medea Kalantar and Booksgosocial for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honeycake is a cute book about trust and honesty. I really enjoyed how Medea Kalantar took an important topic and made it easy for children to understand.

The illustration in Honeycake was great.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one did not really work for me.
The main idea of the author and the message she wants to convey hold great importance.
However, the writing style is much too didactic for my tastes - I see this as something parents should be told and taught how to do with their children, instead of children themselves reading it in this specific way.
The illustrations are of rather poor competence level. Yes, the illustrator can draw and could potentially create a beautifully crafted picture book but there is much room for improvement. These seem almost amateurish and lack character.
It is always good to see a variety of cultures represented in a book, especially so when that does not concern the theme.

Honeycake is a story of a girl who is regretful for hiding something from her parents. But her parents end up teaching her an important lesson about honesty. It’s a lovely moral story perfect for young children.

Honeycake is a sweet story for young audiences that teaches the importance of trust and honesty. Kids are sure to relate to Nala as she learns these lessons and love the illustrations in the book.

Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I read this book last night and I thought that it was lovely.

It is a very well written story and I loved the emphasis on honesty, trust and communication.

The images are lovely too and this is a great story to slow children that they can tell parents anything and to encourage open communication. My daughter is three and she tells me everything, all her concerns and I am hoping that reading books like this with her will ensure that it continues.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, highly recommended!

This book is child friendly and sparks questions and discussion. I could easily imagine using the text as a stimulus for a PSHE lesson looking at honesty and trust. The character is relatable for children and the real life situation is easy to access for a child. In the book you get a small glimpse of how the main character is feeling it begins to feel which could develop through a taught lesson/discussion. There is an important underlying message and one that is good to expose children to. The featured family represent a diverse set up and this is important for children to experience and explore. The book ticks a lot of boxes and you can get a lot from the pictures and simplicity of its style.

I received this ebook in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book was well written and illustrated. The message was well presented and would be a great conversation and lesson started. I liked the way the family was close and the parents made the fact that they would support her as long as she was truthful. Definitely a book I can use in my classroom.

I read this book with my daughter and we both really enjoyed the story and the illustrations. It is a book that I will read again with her as she gets older, as it contains many valuable lessons..

The story is about a girl called Nala who goes into her papa's office without permission and accidentally breaks his favourite mug, which makes her feel anxious and upset. She hides in her bedroom and is afraid to tell her parents what she has done. Her parents have a discussion with her about honesty and trust and she opens up to them about what happened with the mug. They tell her that she should always come to them and tell them the truth, so that they can then work things out in an honest and open way and that it is important to have trust within the family.

The author says that 'With A Circle of Trust, there is no beginning and no end, which signifies that your love for one another is endless and will last forever.' I loved this saying.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this great book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

So I’ll start by saying I appreciate the message they are trying to convey to kids. That being said, I did not enjoy this one. There were some small word choices that were red flags to me. It also read a lot like a lecture and less like a cute book with a good lesson behind it. The way her parents talk to her was a lot of ‘telling’ not ‘showing’. The illustrations were adorable though. I think the text needs to be condensed so it’s a lot less wordy and the author should rephrase a lot of the book to be more clear and more kid friendly. Honestly the prologue was phrased a lot better for kids than most of the book.

Since I said red flags, let me elaborate on what I mean:

When she knocks over the mug the first thing she feels is scared. Now I understand (because it’s explained right after) that she’s scared of the broken glass, but I could see a kid being scared of their parent’s reaction. Then she runs up to her room and has a clear anxiety/stress physical reaction. This just speaks to a bigger issue here and I don’t think it was included intentionally since it is never addressed.

I’m also not a fan of when her parents are discussing trust. They say as long as she’s honest and tells the truth they’ll never get angry or upset with her. As adults, we all know that’s a promise they can’t keep and therefore shouldn’t make. The first time you react in anger or seem upset when she tells you the truth, you’re breaking her trust and whether or not you or she acknowledges that, it will change your relationship. Trust has to be a two way street (or circle in this case) and I think a lot of adults forget that when it comes to their kids.

I also take issue with her father saying that she should “never hide anything” as part of trust. The implication I’m reading from that (and I’m sure some kids as well) is that you’re not allowed to have privacy with people you trust. That’s not the best message because as kids become adults, the messages you’ve taught them will stay with them. When those lessons are then applied to relationships/friendships/etc they need to understand that you can have both trust and privacy. While I understand you can’t necessarily include that level of nuance in a picture book, maybe just don’t include lessons they’ll have to spend time and effort unlearning as adults.

I’m almost done, promise!

Her parents then throw out the term “open communication” without so much as explaining what that means. My issue with this is partly that and partly that they’re not giving her the same respect. They literally just misled her to create a teachable moment just pages ago! You can’t have open communication if only one side is open. That’s just not how it works. Children deserve your honesty just as much as you want theirs.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for sticking with me. I generally don’t like to give negative reviews and frequently just don’t finish books I don’t like, but I wanted to share on this one.

Honeycake is a story of a young girl who is regretful for hiding something from her parents. Her parents teach her a very important lesson that she can tell them anything. The story itself wasn't very entertaining, but I absolutely love the message the story sends to kids.

This was the first Honeycake book I've read and I think it would serve well with counselor sessions, small groups talking about trust. It has a good message and a good way of teaching it to parents and children alike.

Thankyou Netgalley for providing me a free copy of the book via the publisher in exchange for a honest review.


This book teaches kids about trust and how to have open communication with your family.

It is important to build trust and it is important for us to know it is a time consuming task.

HONEYCAKE is a sweet story about a family who teaches their child, Napa, about the importance of building trust, the work that has to be done for trust to be built, and the importance of open, honest, respectful communication. It’s a great way to talk to our children about being honest about what’s bothering them or any mistakes or accidents they might encounter. My kids asked a lot of questions throughout the book, which tells me it was resonating a lot with them! I can’t wait to read the others in this series.