"Where Is the Cake?"

Where Is the Cake?
Written by: N/A
Illustrated by: T.T. King
Published by: Abrams Books for Young Readers in NY in 2004
ISBN: 978-0-8109-1798-9
Genre: Picture Book
Reading Level: N/A
Ages: Grades K-4 (This book is definitely targeted more toward younger children--Kindergarten--, but could definitely be used for older students as well. Please see "Teaching Connections" below.)

Summary: This book is a complete work of solely illustrations; it is comprised of no words at all. Basically, there are a couple of people who have a cake sitting in their backyard on day while they are working and two creatures come up and take it from them. Throughout the book the rightful owners of the cake chase the thieves through the town until the cake is eventually tossed, accidentally, into the lake. Luckily, a frog retrieves it, the thieves are reprimanded, and the cake is shared with the remainder of the townspeople.

Response: I really love this book. It is so very simple, yet I feel that there is a lot a teacher could do with it.

The illustrations are wonderful and fairly humorous as only lady even bashes the thieves over the head with her pocketbook. (Make no mistake, that page is meant to be humor as well and the book is still suitable for young children.) I believe that the illustrations are watercolor and the illustrator used muted tones for his backgrounds, but more vibrant ones for his characters.

Teaching Connections: I would use this book in any K-4 classroom, but change the method I used it slightly to fit the age group. For each group I would put the book on a document scanner/projector and project the pictures onto the screen in the front of the classroom so everyone could see it. For the younger children I would have them create the storyline of the book and I would write what they suggested on the board or overhead. Then, I would make copies of it and bind it for the class as the story we created together so that they could each have their own books. Then, perhaps they could draw their own illustrations as well, since the pictures in the actual book are copyrighted. For Kindergartners, first, and second graders I would maybe only go through a couple of pages per day with them, but with the older children I would project the images on the front of the classroom, or maybe have enough copies of the book for it to be a station in my class, and have each student create his or her own story from the illustrations. I would encourage them to share their stories with the class so that we could learn how each person interprets things differently.

What Students Learn: From this book and lesson students learn right from wrong, sharing, and how to write a story (grammar, punctuation, how narratives and illustrations are linked).