"I really, really love this story." — Jon Klassen Lemony Snicket meets Jon Klassen meets Grimm's fairy tales in an outrageously original picture book debut by BAFTA Award–winning and Oscar-nominated animation director Mikey Please, co-director of the acclaimed stop-motion tribute for Over the Garden Wall ’s 10th anniversary. In The Café at the Edge of the Woods , an aspiring chef opens a café beside an enchanted forest and discovers locals with a most peculiar palette. Rene and Glumfoot are ready to serve Very Fine Cuisine at the Café at the Edge of the Woods. But when their first customer, an ogre, demands pickled bats and battered mice, Rene is ready to give up! She can't possibly serve such rubbish. Or can she? With a little bit of compromise, perhaps she can satisfy her customer and still serve the most delicious grub. Full of humor, unlikely friendship, themes of teamwork, and unexpected surprises, this charming and hilarious picture book is a winning recipe for readers who loved  A Spoonful of Frogs  by Casey Lyall,  The Dark  by Lemony Snicket,  The Skull  by Jon Klassen, and any fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm! Rene, a talented chef, dreams of creating delicious meals at her café by the edge of the woods, but things don't exactly go to plan when the only applicant to an advert for help is a small, green monster called Glumfoot. Things go from bad to worse when the first customer is a knuckle-dragging, snaggle-toothed ogre, who dismisses Rene's offer of gravadlax and asks for pickled bats instead. While Rene is defeated, Glumfoot knows what to do, upending a cheddar tart so it looks like bat, and arranging a truffle stew to resemble slugs in goo. The ogre declares that the food is delicious and soon Rene and Glumfoot are running a thriving restaurant, packed with hungry monsters. Please is a Bafta-award winning animator and his first picture book is a funny, tautly plotted delight, which celebrates the idea that changing your mind, and even your dreams, can ultimately lead to success. His monstrous creatures and their fairytale-esque world are reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are and HarperCollins is, rightly, pitching this as Fungus the Bogeyman meets Grimm's Fairy Tales. The Café at the Edge of the Woods is a brilliantly accomplished début that will appeal to children and their parents. Mikey Please is a BAFTA Award–winning and Oscar-nominated animation director and writer based in London. He is an alumnus of Wimbledon College of Arts and the Royal College of Art and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Café at the Edge of the Woods , his picture book debut, has received astounding praise from booksellers around the globe and has landed on many best-books lists. He is also the author of the upcoming adult novel The Expanded Earth . You can visit Mikey at mikeyplease.co.uk.