- Picture Books
- Ages 3–7
- Comedy
The Cave Downwind of the Café
Book 2 of 2 in The Café at the Edge of the WoodsView the full series
The café's favourite ogre, Glumfoot, lives in a cave just downwind, and now the café is coming to him. Mikey Please returns with all the absurdist verse comedy and illustration density of the first book, this time taking the adventure into new and considerably smellier territory.
- Best for3–7
- FormatPicture
- Length48 pp
- Read aloud~10 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Rhyming
- Lyrical
- Comedic
- Conversational
Tone
- Warm
- Funny
- Silly
- Whimsical
- Absurdist
- Irreverent
- Adventurous
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
The sequel to The Café at the Edge of the Woods moves the action from the café to Glumfoot's cave, which is, as you might expect of an ogre's home, situated downwind of everything pleasant. The same duo return: the impeccably patient café staff and the enormous, enthusiastic ogre who has very particular tastes. This time the book ventures deeper into the woods and into Glumfoot's world, and Mikey Please uses the change of setting to expand the visual vocabulary he established in the first book. New characters, new grotesque menu items, and new verses that maintain the first book's standard: technically accomplished rhyming that never feels forced, and jokes that land equally well for children and adults. The friendship established in the first book deepens here, giving the sequel an emotional grounding that makes it more than a repeat of the original's formula. Best read after The Café at the Edge of the Woods, and just as good to own.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 3–7
- Read aloud · 3–8
- Independent · 6–8
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Tougher fit
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
3 / 5 · Workable
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
2 / 5 · Mild
Best for
- Laugh out loud
- Gift book
- Read aloud performance
- Stunning illustrations
- Award winner
Avoid if
No common reasons to avoid this one — a rare clean sweep on the sensitivity flags.
Particularly good for children who are…
- Interested in art and creativity
- Making friends
- Reluctant reader
- Low self esteem
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A wildly inventive rhyming read-aloud — brilliant for performing aloud and a treat for word-loving classes.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is the smell — Glumfoot the ogre living in a cave just downwind of every pleasant thing, the café staff venturing into his territory this time, new grotesque menu items and verses just as technically tight as the first book. The Café at the Edge of the Woods sequel.
- Secret world
- Adventure and freedom
- Friendship and belonging
- Trickery and cleverness
Why parents love it
The Mikey Please second volume — same patient café staff and enormous Glumfoot, the friendship deepened, change of setting expanding the visual vocabulary. Verses still landing for both children and adults. Best after the first.
- Shared humour
- Beautiful illustrations
- Conversation starter
- Great writing
In the series
The Café at the Edge of the Woods.
2 books · open the series →
About the author & illustrator
Mikey Please.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
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