From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-After moving with his family from Sweden to Jordan, Stefan misses his grandmother and longs for her delicious pancakes. An empty bakery box gives him an idea for getting them delivered to him. So begins a long, far-fetched scheme that involves Aunt Martha transporting the container to Sweden and Grandma placing an ad in the paper seeking someone traveling to the Middle East to return the goods. A businessman responds to the request and volunteers to take the box on his next flight. He has only one concern: "-please wrap the pancakes because I don't want them to stain my clothes. I assume I'll have to hold the box on my lap." Even odder is the reception he gets at the airport-the customs officer smacks his lips and eats one, declaring in Arabic, "Taeeb! It tastes very good." Lepp's pen-and-ink and color illustrations humorously depict Stefan enjoying his long-awaited treats from his "pancake pal." Although children will respond to Stefan missing his grandmother, the story itself is slight.
Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, CanadaCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
PreS-Gr. 2. Stefan, who lives in Jordan, longs for the pancakes that his Swedish grandmother makes. He finds a box that is perfect for transporting pancakes, which a visiting aunt carries back to Sweden (it would be crushed if it were sent), where Grandma finds a courier (a Jordan-bound businessman), fills the box with pancakes, and sends it on its way to her grandson. After a trip through customs, where the pancakes are sampled, the beloved treats finally make it to Stefan. Not everything makes sense in this Swedish import. Some savvy kids may wonder why nobody thought of express mail; and why couldn't Grandma just use her own box? But children, especially those who have moved between cultures, will identify with Stefan's fierce longing for a favorite thing, and Lepp's cartoonlike watercolors show glimpses of the story's exotic settings and capture the family's warmth and humor. This isn't a necessary purchase, but it's an unusual story that could spark discussion about personal treasures and things that are missed.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
