Pancakes for Breakfast

The prolific (and prodigiously talented) Tomie Depaola, creator of the Strega Nona books, delivers an entertaining wordless picture-book in Pancakes for Breakfast. Following the story of a little old woman who wakes up one day and decides that she is in the mood for pancakes, only to discover that she is out of eggs (which she must go collect from the hen-house), milk (which she must get from the cow), butter (which she must churn), and maple syrup (which she must fetch from a neighbor), the visual narrative concludes on a hilarious note, as she returns home to discover that her dog and cat have wreaked havoc in her absence, and that, if she wants pancakes, she'll have to pay another visit...

I enjoyed this story, which 'reads' show more exceptionally well, despite the absence of words, and (as always) appreciated the humor of dePaola's artwork. Although simple enough, the illustrations are immensely expressive - I liked the little old lady's cat and dog! - and carry the story admirably. The ending was entertaining, although I think that if one of my neighbors showed up and ate my entire breakfast, there might be trouble! show less

Though this book contains no words other than the occasional label on a bag of flour or sugar within the illustration, you would swear that a narrative text was leading you the entire way though. The illustrations are so strong in this story of a woman who has quite the craving for pancakes one snowy morning, that as the "reader" you will undoubtedly be able to tell a wonderfully descriptive tale.

Reading Pancakes for Breakfast reminded me of waking up early on sunday morning and helping my mom make pancakes. I loved the way Tommie dePaola taught the audience how to make pancakes through the text and the illustrations. The illustrations were funny and were realistic to what I looked like in the kitchen as a child helping my mother, covered in eggs and batter just like the dog. My favorite illustration in this book is where the elderly lady is shown with a thinking bubble. In this thinking bubble is a large stack of pancakes piled high with butter and syrup. When I think of pancakes, I think of this illustration and because of that, I feel that dePaola did a great job using illustrations to allude to the readers imagery. This is a show more great book to introduce to children before making pancakes. show less

This is a wordless picture book about a woman who wants to make pancakes, so she gathers all the supplies, only to have her pets eat them in the end, but luckily her neighbors had made some too.

The illustrations in this book are colorful, and have enough detail to explain the process a woman went through to have pancakes for breakfast, without having to say a word. This story teaches students that not everything is going to be handed to you, so sometimes you need to be self motivated to get things done. Students could write their own story to go along with the illustrations, or create their own wordless book about a time they were determined to accomplish something.

A wonderful story told through pictures. It starts with a lady who wakes up in the morning and decides that she wants to eat pancakes. Through humor it shows how she after reading the recipe she realizes that she does not have all of the ingredients to make pancakes. Instead of going to the store to buy all of her ingredients she gathers the eggs from her chickens and milks her cow. The only item she buys is her maple syrup from a neighbor. The ending is humorous after coming home from buying her maple syrup she find that her dog and cat have eaten the pancake ingredients.

I loved this book for many reasons. This book brings back so many memories of childhood when "reading" it. I loved the fact that it didn't have any text throughout the book, just the pictures. This allows readers to interpret the story in their own unique way. Not only does this story change from person to person, I noticed that while looking through it over time, my interpretation of the story changes as I catch other details in the pictures. For example, when I read the book the first few times I didn't notice that every time the lady would leave her house she would either bring her dog or her cat along for the trip. This seemed like an important part of the story because if the main character would've brought one of her pets along show more for the last trip to get syrup, all of her ingredients would still be intact. I also liked the illustrations from the book. They were done in such a simple way, with little changes in setting. The illustrations did a good job at displaying the innocence of the old lady. The main idea of this book is to allow readers to use their imagination and creativity to write their own story to go along with the pictures. show less

I absolutely loved this book because it was so clever and funny. I thoroughly respect and support the author's choice not to include text. This decision made the story unique in that children can enjoy the book even at the youngest age. This encourages children to use their creativity and put the pieces of the puzzle together themselves. The illustrations are thorough enough that they convey the basis of the story without dictating the details. This is cool because every time someone reads the book, it can be a little bit different. It is also a good way for adults to assess comprehension without worrying about children getting stuck on phonics skills. The message of the story was to never stop trying until you reach your goal.