A Cake for Dinner. (Tadpoles). Sue Graves. Illustrated by Richard Watson. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2011. 24 pp., pbk. & hc., $7.95 (pbk.), $18.36 (RLB.). ISBN 978-0-7787-0583-3 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-7787-0572-7 (RLB). Preschool-grade 1 / Ages 4-6. Review by Trevor Lockhart. **½ /4

excerpt:

Grandma was coming to dinner.

"Let's make a cake," said Mom.

An upcoming visit from Grandma prompts Molly and her mom to bake a cake. All kinds of things go wrong in the process, but the day is saved when Grandma shows up at the door with her own cake. Another book in the "Tadpoles" series, A Cake for Dinner is aimed at children just beginning to read. It does a good job of repeating words throughout the whole story. For example, the word "mess" is used in three consecutive sentences. Like other books in this series, there is a word list at the very beginning and a puzzle page at the end. These are meant as tools to help new readers prepare for the story and to review what they have just read. Richard Watson's quirky illustrations bring some additional humour that's missing from the text alone. For example, Molly's dog is present in every picture, and I could see a child having fun pointing out what the dog is doing while Molly and her mom fret over the cake mess.

Recommended.

Trevor Lockhart is a librarian at the Louis Riel Public Library in Winnipeg, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

 

NEXT REVIEW | TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - September 30, 2011.

AUTHORS | TITLES | MEDIA REVIEWS | PROFILES | BACK ISSUES | SEARCH | CMARCHIVE | HOME