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Thunder Cake

Thunder Cake (1990)

by: Patricia Polacco

This picture book is about a little girl who lives with her grandmother making a Thunder Cake as the storm rolls in.  The narrator of the story talks about how she is scared of thunder.  She hides under her bed when she hears the first cracks of it.  this is until her grandmother comes and makes her get out from under the bed.  Her grandmother says that since there is a storm coming they need to make thunder cake.  The little girl had never heard of this before.  To make a thunder cake you need to time it just so that when it is done, the storm is just arriving where you are.  To make the thunder cake the little girl and her grandmother have to go out to the house to get the ingredients.  They have to get eggs, milk, flour, tomatoes, and strawberries from their farm and garden.  They gather the supplies, make the cake and get the table ready for their meal.  All the while, the storm is getting closer and closer.  When the cake is finished the girl and her grandmother eat the cake.  The little girl tells her grandmother that even though she made the cake, she is still scared of the thunder.  Her grandmother says that someone who can go and get the ingredients and make a cake in the middle of a storm is not scared but brave.  She was able to get through the storm with her grandmothers help.  Now whenever there is a thunder storm coming her way, all she needs to do is make a thunder cake.  

This book is wonderful to show students that they can get over their fears, and that it is alright to have a fear.  This book is also a wonderful way to show students how other people live.  This family lives on a farm, which might not be how many students live in your classroom.  This family was from Russia, and their life styles are very different than those we have here today.  I would have this book in my classroom library, but might not read it aloud to the class all the time.  I would have it in any grade from K-3rd.  I like this book, but I do not think that all teachers need to have it in their classrooms.  

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