This story takes place in a Jewish neighborhood post World War II. Sarah a young girl wants to make her mother a cake for her birthday. She goes out into the neighborhood to different stores to collect her supplies. The man at the produce stand and the bakery both give her advice on how to make the cake perfect. When they give her the advice they tell her not to forget and make sure she does it and she will have the perfect cake. Sarah dreads going into the grocery store owned by the Singer's. The Singer's have blue numbers tattooed on their arms and Sarah is afraid she will be caught staring. Reluctantly she heads into the store and get the remaining ingredients for her mothers cake. Sarah gets caught staring at the numbers on Mrs. Singer's arm and apologizes. Mrs. Singer takes her to the back of the store where they live and invites Sarah to have cake. Mrs. Singer tells Sarah that she isn't upset that she was staring at the numbers and that it is a reminder of something that should never be forgotten. She lets Sarah bake the cake at her house so her mother won't find out about her surprise.
This book would be great to use in the classroom for young children. It gives a little detail about the Holocaust, but doesn't go into great detail which would be ok for the younger students. The illustrations in this book are very good and I think students would really enjoy them. I like how the author had different people in the book give Sarah tips on baking her cake and telling her not to forget and then having Mrs. Singer telling her the same thing about the numbers that would forever mark her arm. This book was very well written and an enjoyable read.
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