From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-Weston and Gammell have stirred together the ingredients for a fun romp in the kitchen as three lively kids make pancakes for breakfast. Mixed-media illustrations with variegated pastel scribbles and color splotches in the background convey the action as the children slop and splash their way through the creation and consumption of the meal. Done in an energetic style similar to his work in Karen Ackerman's Song and Dance Man (Knopf, 1988) and Cynthia Rylant's The Relatives Came (Bradbury, 1985), Gammell's illustrations are filled with zany, lovable characters making a delicious mess. Although a few of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch, the simple poem with its onomatopoeic phrases and catchy rhythm is sure to have youngsters bouncing along with the beat. Pair this title with Eric Carle's Pancakes, Pancakes! (S & S, 1991) and Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Pig a Pancake (HarperCollins, 1998) for a funfilled storytime. A recipe is included, along with a warning to "leave the cooking to the big kids."-Laurie Edwards, West Shore School District, Camp Hill, PA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 1. A simple pancake breakfast turns into a joyous, batter-splattering riot when three ragamuffins take over the kitchen. While the adults sleep, two boys creep downstairs and join a girl who's already at work on a wild flapjack production line. After eating and a raucous cleanup, the kids race outside. Weston's minimal text keeps the beat with rolling rhythm and rhyme: "A pancake flip, / a pancake flop, / pancake bottom / over pancake top." But it's Gammell's energetic pastel, pencil, and watercolor art that really tells the story; its explosions of color and texture are so visceral that children may test the pages for spilled syrup. Gammell's characters are irresistible with their mismatched clothes and gravity-defying hair, and he creates hilarious situations to match the simple words. "Save some for later / in a secret place," for example, is illustrated with an image of a boy stealthily carrying an armload of cakes into the basement, like a dog burying a bone. Read this to fidgety story hour listeners who will want to shimmy and shake to their own pancake cheers.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
