Whopper Cake

Title: Whopper Cake 
Author: Karma Wilson   
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand 
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books  
Publication Date: 2007  
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book   
Summary: Grandpa wants to surprise Grandma with an extraordinarily large chocolate cake for her birthday!  Can he pull it off?  And who'll clean up the mess!?   
What I Think: This book brought a smile to my face because it made me think of my husband and my own dad cooking up storms in the kitchen.  My husband makes me nervous in the kitchen because I'm never sure what he's going to put together - although it does always end up turning out good!  And he always ends up with a mess!  My dad loves to cook and also makes some really amazing food but he does everything big so I was reminded of him.
     This book is written in rhyme which makes it fun.  Grandpa really does go crazy and ends up needing shovels to frost his giant chocolate cake.  You can imagine how happy Grandma feels when she gets her surprise.  I love pointing out the silly things Grandpa puts into his cake and laughing and how we think it's all going to turn out.  Bonus: at the end of the book, there's a real recipe to make your own whopper cake. Love it!  
Read Together: Pre-K - 6  
Read Alone: 2 - 6 
Read With: Sweet Dream Pie by Audrey Wood, Cupcake by Charise Mericle Harper  
Snatch of Text: 

"Granddad holds the paddle firm

and sets himself to mixin'.

'I'm thinking that old cookstove

might not hold this cake we're fixin'.'

Recipe says one pinch salt.

Granddad 'pinches' more.

Recipe says one cup cocoa.

In go twenty-four.

(Twenty-four boxes, that is...)" 

Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Expository
Writing Prompts: Write step-by-step directions to explain how you would decorate your whopper cake to surprise someone for his or her birthday.  Write a letter to explain to your parents what kind of birthday cake you would like. 
Topics Covered: Family, Birthdays, Integration - Foods, Thoughtfulness, Surprises, Rhyme
Translated to Spanish: No