Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Book Genre: Realistic Fiction

Publishing Info.: Scholastic Inc., 32 pages

Awards or Honors Received: N/A

Summary: This story is about a little girl who loves to visit her grandmother in Michigan. However, bad storms pop up there and the little girl is terrified of them. One day, a bad storm is coming and her grandmother tells her they have a thunder cake to bake. She tells her granddaughter that they need to go out to the farmhouse and gather all of the ingredients. They must hurry, because the thunder cake has to be in the oven before the storm arrives. The grandmother and granddaughter do make the cake in enough time. The grandmother tells the little girl how brave she was and the little girl also realizes that she was brave. From then on, she was never afraid of thunderstorms again.

Personal Rating and Reason for Rating: ****Great! I loved this story. This story showed the love of a grandmother and how she wanted to get her granddaughter's mind off of something that she was terrified of. It worked and the grandmother and granddaughter had a new tradition when it came to storms. These two characters definitely had a strong bond and thier love for one another was evident throughout the book. I think that young children could relate this story to something special that they do with their grandparents.

Reading Level: 3.5

Interest Level: 1-3

Possible Uses of the Text in Integrated Units of Study (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum): This story could be used during a weather unit when discussing storms. The book talked about how you can count between lightning and thunder to see how far away the storm is. Farm animals could also be integrated because the book talked about going out to the farmhouse and gathering eggs from the hen and getting milk from the cow. Writing could be incorporated by having students to write about a time that their grandmother or grandfather helped them to not be afraid or made them feel special. There is a recipe at the end of the story for Thunder Cake (I cannot wait to try it). If your school permits using the cafeteria, you could bring in the ingredients and incorporate math by allowing the students to measure out the correct amounts. If not, you could always bake the cake at home the night before and have it ready for students to try after reading this story to them.

Potential Problems or Difficulties: I do not see any problems or difficulties with this book.

The recipe for Thunder Cake is also available if you google it online.