Book of the month - Thunder Cake, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco

Review by Meredith Clark

This is an enjoyable book! Thunder Cake is about a little girl and her Babushka in a thunderstorm. The little girl, Patty, was afraid of the loud thunder and didn’t want to come out from under the bed. Her babushka told her to come out so that they could make a Thunder Cake.

To make the special Thunder Cake, Patty went through some unsettling things to get the ingredients. Patty’s confidence grew as she overcame each obstacle. At the end of collecting the supplies they went back to the kitchen, mixed everything up, and popped the cake into the oven.

While they were waiting for the cake to be finished, Patty's babushka told her that she was very brave! Babushka said ‘’You collected eggs from the scary hen, got milk from the scary, grumpy cow, went through the scary, dark woods, and climbed a scary, high trellis! I think you are very brave.’’ Patty then realised she was indeed brave!

I really liked this book and recommend it for children of any age! It showed me that even though the child was afraid, her Babushka told her to do it anyway and assured her, ‘’I am here for you!’’ We all have to go through scary things in life but having someone to rely on will give us confidence.

Age Range - 5-8 years Book length - 32 pages