Sody Salleratus

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.

An old woman wants to bake biscuits. When she discovers she is out of
sody salleratus, she sends a young boy to buy some at the general store.
On the trip home, the boy runs into a huge, hairy, smelly brown bear,
who eats him. The old woman sends a young girl to find the boy, but the
girl meets the same fate as her brother. Then the old woman’s husband
goes out to find the missing children; he too is gobbled down. Finally,
the old woman goes out in search of her three missing family members and
becomes the dessert course. That could have been the end of the story
except for a feisty little squirrel who has been waiting patiently on
the fireplace mantelpiece. He has been promised some biscuits and not
even a huge, smelly bear is going to deprive him of his treat.

According to a note in the book, Sody Salleratus is a 19th-century
Americanism for baking soda. Whatever it is called, baking soda is the
catalyst for this droll tale about two sets of competing appetites.
Aubrey Davis’s story is finely written and humorous, but the combined
illustration efforts of Alan and Lea Daniel boost this amusing tale into
the realm of an instant classic. Each character is quirky and
eye-catching, but the bear and squirrel unquestionably steal the show.
Highly recommended.