Ash Takes the Cake (Pokémon: Scholastic Reader, Level 2) - by Maria S Barbo (Paperback)

“The Sweet Taste of Battle” is one of the best non-plot driven episodes of Pokémon Journeys. The character interactions between Ash, Leon, Raihan, and Opal are delightful, but this book has completely omitted both Leon and Raihan in favor of acknowledging only Ash, Chloe, Goh, and Opal. Leon and Raihan are sources of inspiration to Ash— the sole reason he felt inclined to partake in the baking challenge to begin with— yet Scholastic had apparently decided that two essential characters were “expendable” parts of this story. What??? I understand needing to keep the book short for beginner readers, but the underestimation of what children can handle is ridiculous. This is before mentioning the fact that Chloe and Goh are arguably less important to the plot than Leon and Raihan are. The episode this youth novel was based on was carried by Leon and Raihan… for children who adore the characters from the game and show, they will be quite disappointed in the lack of their appearance. I have given this item two stars because I believe this book sweetly (pun intended) brings a wonderful Pokémon episode to the pages of a young reader’s book, despite Scholastic having gutted what had made the episode so great.

Easy for my 7 year old to read.