Saturday, January 21, 2012

Two About Cupcakes

You Are My Cupcake. Joyce Wan. 2011. Scholastic. 14 pages.

You are my cupcake
My sticky little gumdrop
My mushy little sweet pea
My oven-baked cutie-pie...

The more you read You Are My Cupcake, the more you'll like it. I think. And it probably won't take you long to memorize this one! (Which is NOT a bad thing at all.) So this one doesn't offer many surprises, what you see is what you get. It is cute. It is sweet. It is fun and playful. A board book about the many, many nicknames a baby might collect from his/her friends and relations--though I wouldn't have ever thought to call someone an oven-baked cutie-pie. (Other nicknames include honey-roasted peanut and chubby little pumpkin.) I liked the art.

Read You Are My Cupcake
  • If you are looking to share a lovely sweet or super-sweet read with the little cupcakes in your life


Cupcake Surpise (BOB Books/Level 1) Lynn Maslen Kertell. Illustrated by Sue Hendra. 2012. (February 2012) Scholastic. 32 pages.

It is Dad's birthday.
What will Jack and Anna give to Dad?
Will they make a card?
Will they jot a note?
Will they sing a song?
Jack and Anna will make cupcakes for Dad.
Cupcakes will be a big surprise.

Jack and Anna love their Dad very much. And they really, really, really want to make him some yummy cupcakes. But things don't go exactly as planned. It starts when the two realize they are out of flour. They head to the store--with their mom, of course, who doesn't really get all that involved in the story until it's time to put the cupcakes in the oven--to buy flour...and cookies. At home at last...will these two follow the recipe exactly? What do you think?! It starts with a little assistance from their dog, Buddy, who "accidentally" adds the cookies. What will happen next?

While Cupcake Surprise won't be a thrilling reads to adults, I think it does offer something to young readers. I think that if you're looking for a simple book with simple text that kids can start reading on their own, this is a nice choice. I think it definitely works as a read aloud for much younger listeners as well.

Read Cupcake Surprise
  • If you have little ones that love to cook and bake this one works great as a read aloud
  • If you are looking for level one readers for your child to read
  • If you don't mind lower quality art

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

thereadingpanda said...

You are my Cupcake sounds adorable!