Traditional Tale Reflection: Pancakes for Supper

Isaacs, A., Teague, M., & Bannerman, H. (2006). Pancakes for supper!. New York: Scholastic Press.

Toby bounces right out of the back of a covered wagon on the way to Whisker Creek and she lands in a soft pile of snow. Luckily, she’s wearing a new set of pretty warm clothes, but her parents are long-gone and a hungry wolf with terrible green eyes paces around her. She fends off the wolf and five more hungry forest dwellers by trading her beautiful new wardrobe for her life. Each animal claims to be the grandest beast in the forest, until they all meet. The fighting of the angry animals creates a delicious opportunity, and when Toby is reunited with her parents, they make campfire pancakes for supper.

This is definitely a beast tale, told in cumulative fashion. Six different animals confront Toby, all wanting to eat her for supper, and she outwits them in the same way. The animals are clearly on the bad side of being two-dimensional characters, where Toby and her parents are the good guys. This story begs being told aloud. The drama of the scary animals and the number of pancakes Toby eats could be exaggerated with voices and actions. Some of the dialogue is repetitive. Toby always says, “…and I will make you the grandest animal in the forest.” The animal always claims, “Now I’m the grandest beast, West or East!”

Similar traditional tales are told in many cultures. An outdated and politically incorrect version is Little Black Sambo. Another tale is Trouble with Trolls, where the author Jan Brett uses the idea of giving away clothes to animals.

Preschool and early elementary children will enjoy the plot and the boldly-colored paint style of the illustrations. The line of each drawing is distinct and the large shape of the characters balances well with the forest background. The animals really stand out in Toby’s bright clothing.

Curriculum connection: Cooking is a great intersection between practical living and math. A class could scale up a pancake recipe for the class, and practice applying fractions. In fact, there is a recipe for Toby’s Animal Pancakes on the back of the dust jacket.

Math Standard: 6.NS.1 Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem.

Questions to discuss with students: What would you do if you came across a wild animal in the woods? Or became lost in the woods?

Modern Fantasy Reflection: Blackwood

Bond, G. (2012). Blackwood. Nottingham, UK: Strange Chemistry. 

 

Miranda Blackwood has never belonged but she’s never lived anywhere else but on the island of Roanoke. Her family was cursed when the 114 original colonists disappeared long ago. The island faces present-day mystery when 114 more citizens disappear and Miranda’s father is murdered. Miranda teams up with Phillips, who left the island to escape the voices of the dead. It’s a race against time as they battle to find the missing while avoiding federal agents and dead alchemists. They are on a quest to break the Blackwood curse and remove the red serpent birthmark that appeared on Miranda’s cheek when her father died. Phillips and Miranda grow closer, but with ancestors on opposite sides, another conflict occurs when they must push aside romantic feelings and battle darkness if they are ever going to escape the island and save their families.

This is a young adult modern fantasy that uses magical realism to tell the story. The supernatural elements such as a magical gun and ghostly alchemists are inserted into a present-day Roanoke setting. There are traces of history due to being on the island of Roanoke, but it is not historical fantasy. The protagonists are ordinary high school students who are forced into a hero cycle to bring their world back to normal.

Curriculum connection: In Social Studies, teachers could begin a unit on settling the New World by discussing theories of what could have happened to the Roanoke colonists. That could lead into listing the hardships settlers of the New World faced.

SS-08-4.3.2

Students will explain why and give examples of how human populations changed and/or migrated because of factors such as war, disease, economic opportunity and technology in the United States prior to Reconstruction.

SS-08-5.1.2

Students will explain how history is a series of connected events shaped by multiple cause-and-effect relationships and give examples of those relationships.

Although this novel is pure fantasy, there are underlying themes about friendship and betrayal and sticking together. I would ask students what they would do if they had to choose between family and doing the right thing.

I would highly recommend this novel because the action rolls, making it hard to put down. The main characters have always struggled to fit in and they are finding out why. This identity conflict and the romantic elements make it an irresistible read for young adults.

Water In The Park: Picture Book Reflection

Jenkins, E., & Graegin, S. (2013). Water in the park: A book about water and the times of the day. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books.

This fiction picture book gives the reader a snapshot of what happens in an urban park over the course of a hot summer day. Since it’s so hot, most of the activity is centered on the pond or the splash zone for children. The main elements of fiction used are character, setting, and mood. Everyone is hot and that’s why they are at the park!

The prose style is descriptive with small bursts of dialogue from different people in the park. The reader will learn what the people around this city do all day as they walk, have lunch, commute to and from work, or meet friends.

There are small bits of plot: the dog Fluffernut won’t swim in the pond in the morning, but when he comes back that evening, he splashes happily. A nanny struggles with a toddler who doesn’t want to leave. Characters that appear in the beginning re-appear at the end of the book, closing the story nicely.

The illustrations are softly colored watercolors. Visual elements come from line and composition. The pictures show a diverse population and a crowded place, with children playing, people picnicking, walking dogs, jogging, and more.

This book is appropriate for ages 4-8. I chose it for my children because it reminded me of times they played in the water in Chicago’s Centennial Park.

A teacher could use this story to talk about how life in a big city is different from living in a house with a yard, or have a discussion about what to do on a hot day. In science, a teacher could ask students how water is important to people and animals who live in the city.

Primary Science Standards Academic Expectation 2.2: Students identify, analyze, and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.

Students will understand that

• Most living things need water, food and air, while nonliving things can continue to exist without any requirements.

• Plants and animals have features that help them live in different environments.

Book Talk: The Bake Shop Ghost

Ogburn, J. K., & Priceman, M. (2005). The bake shop ghost. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

What would you do if you were a talented pastry chef who bought a bakery, only to discover the deceased and cranky former owner is haunting the place? Three bakers have bought and sold the shop because they can’t deal with the lemon-pucker mouth of Miss Cora Lee Merriweather shouting, “Get out of my kitchen!”

Along comes Annie Washington, a cruise-ship pastry chef who can bake through a typhoon or tsunami. She won’t budge an inch, even as Cora Lee destroys the kitchen.

Here is a short blurb that describes the kitchen fight:

“Cora Lee let out a shriek that cracked the windowpane. Annie kept on rolling out her dough. Cora Lee rose up through the counter into the middle of the puff pastry, making a most horrible face. Annie slapped a slab of butter on top of the pastry and folded it up, ghost and all.”

Annie tells Cora Lee it’s her kitchen now, but Cora has a request. “Make me a cake,” Cora Lee says, “make me a cake so rich and sweet, it will fill me up and bring tears to my eyes. A cake like one I might have baked, but that no one ever made for me.”

Annie goes on a delicious journey, baking hundreds of desserts to please Cora Lee so she can rest in peace.

This is a children’s picture book with fantasy elements. It would be appropriate for ages 4-8. The illustrations are brightly colored and have an abstract quality to them. This book made my children and I very hungry for dessert. The bonus is a recipe in back, and every child will beg their parent or teacher to make it!

Here is a wave file for the verbal book talk:

Bake Shop Ghost Book Talk

Intro to class