Each One Special

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Ben is a little boy with a special friend named Harry. Harry is a cake
decorator. Almost every day, Ben visits the bakery where Harry works and
watches him create amazing designs with cake icing and marzipan. No two
cakes made by Harry are ever exactly alike and sometimes Ben is allowed
to help Harry make a special cake. One day, the bakery is sold to new
owners who do not appreciate Harry’s ability to make original designs.
They want their cakes made fast and identical. New, younger bakers are
hired. Harry, who has 35 years of baking experience, is fired and no one
else in town seems to want him. Ben is alarmed when his dejected friend
Harry gives up on trying to find a new job. Now all Harry does is sit in
front of the television thinking about the old days when people loved
his cakes.

The good news is that Harry does find a new job. The bad news is that
downsizing is now a theme

in children’s literature. Harry’s life becomes so sad it needs (and
gets) a tremendous amount of humorous support from Zimmermann’s fine
illustrations. Although Wishinsky writes a good story, there are few
surprises in it. The reader expects Harry to get a new life and, with
Ben’s help, he does. Recommended.