Posted on by TracyC

Raggedy Ann and Andy’s Cookbook

Raggedy Ann and Andy’s Cookbook by Nika Hazelton, 1975.

This children’s cookbook is inspired by the classic Raggedy Ann and Andy stories, and the recipes are accompanied by illustrations from the original books and quotes from the stories. I think the concept is charming, although I noticed that the quotes included with the recipes don’t always match what the recipes actually are. I think that’s because the author decided to include recipes that don’t relate to the stories directly. For example, the quote included with one of the recipes for breakfast cereal is about sausages, and there is no recipe that includes sausages in the chapter of breakfast recipes.

That being said, I thought that the book had an interesting selection of recipes. Some of the recipes are classics, like pancakes, different types of sandwiches, chicken, meatloaf, and some easy desserts. Some recipes are a little old-fashioned, like the one that is designed for an electric frying pan. I haven’t seen electric frying pans for years, and I’m not sure if people still use them. Other recipes in the book strike me as being very mid-20th century in style, such as the salads that contain some mixtures of ingredients that I think 21st century children might find odd. I noticed that the recipe for baked onions has a note that this might be a treat “for your Daddy or Mommy”, a sort of acknowledgement that an adult might enjoy a baked onion more than a kid would, although the recipe is easy enough for a kid to do, baking the onions alongside baked potatoes.

The book begins with a short chapter about cooking tips, and I was surprised by the instructions for cleaning fish that were included later in the book, with the assumption that kids might be helping to cook fish that they actually caught. It is logical that some kids might actually go fishing and catch fish, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cookbook for children with that assumption or those instructions. Most seem to assume that kids are using store-bought ingredients for their recipes.

The main chapters of the book are:

Beautiful Breakfasts

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Two recipes for making your own breakfast cereal
  • Cinnamon Toast
  • Pancakes
  • Baked Ham
  • Nest Egg
  • Electric Frying Pan Breakfast – I don’t know if people use electric frying pans anymore. I’ve seen them before but not for a long time. The breakfast included in this recipe is for bacon, eggs, and toast.

Lovely Lunches

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Cheese and Apple Sandwiches
  • Cream Cheese and Berry Sandwiches
  • Ham, Lettuce, and Cheese Sandwich
  • Stuffed Pita Pocket – The filling is cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and cheese.
  • Savory Cheese and Bread Pudding
  • Baked Cheesy Eggs

Super Salads

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Raggedy Ann Salad – This salad is meant to be shaped like Raggedy Ann’s face, with a canned peach half for the head, raisins for eyes, a piece of pepper for a nose, pimiento for the mouth, and grated carrot for hair.
  • Tossed Green Salad
  • French Dressing
  • Carrot, Apple and Raisin Salad
  • Tomato Salad
  • Guacamole Salad
  • Cucumber Galleons – Cucumbers are cut and decorated to look like boats with lettuce for sails.

Scrumptious Suppers

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Corn Chowder
  • French Onion Soup
  • Rice
  • Roast Corn
  • Corn Fritters
  • Green Peas with Bacon
  • How to clean and cook a small fish
  • Oven-fried Chicken Legs
  • Baked Chicken
  • Hand-mixed Meat Loaf
  • How to Make an Oven-cooked Dinner for a Friend
  • Baked Potato
  • Baked Onion
  • Oven Hamburgers
  • How to Make a Spaghetti Dinner for Four
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Spaghetti
  • Italian Bread Sticks

Delectable Desserts

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Baked Apple
  • Smores
  • Yoghurt-and-Fruit
  • Dessert Ladyfinger Sandwiches
  • Hot Bananas
  • Frozen Bananas and More Frozen Bananas
  • Chocolate Bar Mousse
  • Lemon Gelatin
  • Elegant Melon Dessert
  • Gingerbread Men
  • Three Hole Chocolate Cake
  • Brownies

Terrific Treats

The recipes included in this chapter are:

  • Ice Cream Soda and Super Ice Cream Soda
  • Thick Milk Shake
  • Honey Sauce for Ice Cream
  • Boston Cooler
  • Strawberry Ice-Cubes Milk
  • Fruit Candy Treats
  • Party Punch
  • Chocolate Raisins
  • Popcorn Party
Posted on by TracyC

Raggedy Ann’s Tea Party Book

Raggedy Ann’s Tea Party Book by Elizabeth Silbaugh, illustrated by Laura Francesca Filippucci, 1999.

This book is a children’s guide to planning a tea party with Raggedy Ann. As in the original books, Raggedy Ann is a doll who lives with a girl named Marcella, and she likes to have tea parties with Marcella’s other dolls and stuffed animals.

The book explains how to plan and prepare for a tea party, from figuring out how many guests there will be and making sure there are enough seats for everyone to choosing a menu and games to play. There are tips for making party invitations and a section of recipes in the back of the book.

The food ideas aren’t too complicated. The book recommends keeping preparations simple because a party is about having fun. Setting the table is an activity by itself. Raggedy Ann gets her guests to help her, and they put on music while they do it. They want to make the table setting pretty, and they make sure that everyone knows each other and is included in the conversation. Tea parties are a time to practice good manners and make sure everyone is enjoying the party. At the end of the party, guests can also help clean up while they play music.

For games to play, they recommend the classic game of Telephone, Fiddly Diddly (a guessing game), and Memory Tray, where guests look at a tray of objects for a limited amount of time and then try to remember everything they’ve seen.

The recipes included in the book are:

  • Easy Chocolate Cakes
  • Creamy Pink and White Icing
  • Tiny Sandwiches – They suggest a variety of possible fillings, including tuna, ham, tomato, hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, cheese, fruit, or jam.
  • Raggedy Ann’s Candy-Heart Cookies – These are heart-shaped cutout cookies because Raggedy Ann has a candy heart.
  • Uncle Clem’s Super-Simple Scotch Shortbread
  • Marcella’s Lemonade

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies). There is another book by the same author called Raggedy Ann’s Birthday Party Book, about planning a birthday party.

My Reaction

I found it charming and nostalgic, and I loved the colorful pictures! I didn’t read this book as a child, but it is the kind of book I would have liked. The party-planning tips are useful, taking child readers step-by-step through planning the party, inviting the guests, and preparing food and entertainment. I liked the advice to keep things simple, so even the host/hostess can enjoy the party instead of getting stressed over complicating preparations. The recipes in the book fit the tea party theme, and they are simple enough for children to make or at least help in their preparation without being overly simplistic.

Posted on by TracyC

Mrs. Gigglebelly is Coming for Tea

Mrs. Gigglebelly is Coming for Tea by Donna Guthrie, illustrated by Katy Keck Arnsteen, 1990.

Elizabeth Ann tells her mother that Mrs. Gigglebelly is coming for tea today, but her mother says that she’s in the middle of her spring cleaning and doesn’t have time to prepare for Mrs. Gigglebelly today. In fact, she suggests that Mrs. Gigglebelly might be busy today, but Elizabeth Ann says that Mrs. Gigglebelly always has time for tea with her.

Since her mother is busy with chores and can’t prepare tea or a cake for Mrs. Gigglebelly, Elizabeth Ann fixes some lemonade and crackers with grape jelly for their “tea.” While Elizabeth Ann waits in the garden for Mrs. Gigglebelly, her mother dashes about, doing her chores.

At first, it seems like Mrs. Gigglebelly isn’t going to come, but she eventually arrives because she always has time for Elizabeth Ann … so does her mother.

My Reaction

This is a cute story about a mother who makes time for her child, even when she’s busy. “Mrs. Gigglebelly” seems to be a game of pretend the mother and daughter play together when they have their tea parties. On this particular day, the mother is very busy, but she still throws together a costume for their game. The book doesn’t say that “Mrs. Gigglebelly” is Elizabeth Ann’s mother, but it’s implied in the story, and in the last picture, readers can see pieces of “Mrs. Gigglebelly’s” improvised costume around the room.

I thought it was sweet that the mother in the story took time for a little fun and silliness and a special moment with her daughter, even though she had work to do. Some mothers might just lecture their child about how they’re busy and the child just has to accept that, but this mother understands that her attention is important to her child. Sometimes, it’s the little moments that mean a lot, even if it’s just pausing to share a snack. She does make her daughter wait because there are things she has to do, but the wait is worth it because the mother follows through and makes the effort to make time for her daughter.

Elizabeth Ann also doesn’t nag her mother about hurrying up or try to convince her mother to drop everything she’s doing and play with her instead of doing her cleaning. Instead, she waits patiently, confident that her mother will have time for her eventually because her mother has already established that her daughter is a priority and that she will make time for her. It looks like this mother-daughter pair understands each other well and that they have a good relationship with each other, and I like that.

Posted on by TracyC

Whose Garden Is It?

Whose Garden Is It? by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Jane Dyer, 2001.

This is a cute picture book, told in rhyme, about who is the real owner of a garden.

One day, Mrs. McGee goes for a walk and passes a beautiful garden. She wonders aloud whose garden it is. Of course, the owner of the garden, who is tending the plants speaks up, but he’s not the only one.

A small rabbit also tells Mrs. McGee that the garden belongs to him because he’s lived there his whole life, and he eats the vegetables. Then, a woodchuck says that’s nothing because he eats everything that grows in the garden. A bird chimes in, saying he eats the worms from the garden. Then, a worm says that worms are there to make the soil in the garden better, so he’s the real owner of the garden.

Various other creatures, big and small speak up, each of them pointing out that they live in the garden, what they’ve done for the garden, and what the garden has done for them. The bees and butterflies pollinate the flowers.

But what about the plants in the garden? They have a strong argument that they are what makes the garden a garden. Then again, the soil is where the plants grow, and the plants need the sun and rain to grow. Also, all plants grow from seeds, so the garden exists for the seeds that will be the future plants.

It seems that the answer to Mrs. McGee’s question isn’t as easy as she might have thought.

My Reaction

This is a charming story about how various plants, animals, creatures, and forces of nature are interconnected. The book doesn’t use the word “ecosystem“, but that’s the concept being described here. The garden’s ownership and the reason for its existence is much more than the gardener who owns the land and planted and tended the garden; it’s everything that’s growing in it, everything that contributes to its growth, and everything that depends on the garden. Without all of these creatures and natural forces put together, the garden wouldn’t be what it is.

The book doesn’t attempt to get scientific about the details of this garden ecosystem, and the animals wear clothes and talk, so the story isn’t meant to be entirely realistic. However, it is thought-provoking about how many different parts of nature affect each other. It could be a good book for introducing the topic to young children before teaching them about the science of ecosystems later. The rhyme scheme makes the story fun to read.

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Isabel’s House of Butterflies

Isabel’s House of Butterflies by Tony Johnston, illustrated by Susan Guevara, 2003.

The story begins by explaining that the forests of Michoacan, Mexico are a sanctuary for monarch butterflies, but that sanctuary is in danger because of logging activities. The large-scale industry is a major threat, but sometimes poor people living in the area also chop down trees because they need to sell the wood. The author notes that there have been efforts to preserve these trees, but it’s difficult to enforce laws protecting them, and no one is sure what will happen to the monarch butterflies if the trees disappear.

Isabel is an eight-year-old girl living with her family on a small farm, and the tree outside their house attracts butterflies on their migration route. She calls it, “La casa de las mariposas,” which means “The House of Butterflies.” Her family is poor, but they can’t bring themselves to chop down their special butterfly tree, like other families in the area have done. They love it that the butterflies appear there every autumn, and they think it’s a beautiful miracle to see them return every year. Sometimes, tourists come to the area to see the butterflies, and that brings the family a little extra money.

However, one year, there is very little rain, and they have a very bad harvest. The family sells their pigs and continues on as best they can, but their money is running low. They don’t have many resources left for money, and Isabel’s father is reluctantly considering cutting down their butterfly tree. He doesn’t want to do it, but he doesn’t know what else to do.

Isabel is distressed at the loss of the tree and the butterflies, so she suggests another plan to her parents. She often helps her mother to make tortillas, so she tells her mother that maybe they can set up a stand selling tortillas to the tourists who come to see the butterflies. The family decides to give Isabel’s plan a try.

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

The story ends on a somewhat hopeful note, but it bothered me a little because it’s not definite that Isabel’s plan is going to work. Isabel is hoping that they’ll be able to make enough money that they won’t need to cut down the tree, but we only see them getting set up, so we don’t know if they’re successful or not. I would have preferred to see them succeeding so we would know that things are going to get better, but the story just ends at that point, and it’s left up to the minds of the readers whether they were successful or not.

I think that hopeful but slightly worrying note at the end of the story is meant to reflect how people trying to preserve natural resources often feel – they have ideas and plans to help preserve natural areas and resources, but nobody knows for sure what will work or how well their plans will work. It’s realistic, if a little bit of a let-down. However, while nothing is guaranteed to be successful and life has its uncertainties, there is hope in the people who are willing to try different approaches to problems rather than simply giving up. The book does speak to the concerns that modern people, even children, have about the environment and the search for systems that work better than the ones that we already have.

The pictures in this book are soft, colorful, and lovely. Although the family is poor, they appreciate the small pleasures in their lives, like making the tortillas and the yearly appearance of the beautiful butterflies. I did also feel a little sorry for the butterflies the pigs ate, but the story doesn’t dwell on that part too much.

This book was published by Sierra Club Books for Children, and there is a small note with the publishing information about the origins of the Sierra Club, which is dedicated to protecting scenic and ecological resources.

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Last Stop on Market Street

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena, pictures by Christian Robinson, 2015.

After church, CJ and his grandmother have to wait for the bus while other people just get in their cars and leave. CJ is annoyed because it’s raining. He asks his Nana why they have to wait in the rain and why they don’t have a car. His Nana says that they don’t need a car because they have the bus.

The bus is interesting because many interesting people take the bus. The bus driver does little tricks, like pulling a coin from behind CJ’s ear, and there are interesting passengers, like the lady with a jar of butterflies and a man with a guitar.

While CJ’s friends, whose families have cars, go straight home after church, CJ and his Nana have somewhere else to go. CJ wishes that he could just go home, too, but Nana points out that the boys who just go straight home miss meeting so many interesting people. CJ does enjoy listening to the man with the guitar playing music on the bus.

CJ and his grandmother get off at the last stop on Market Street, which is in a bad neighborhood. CJ comments about how dirty it is, but his grandmother points out that people who surrounded by dirt know how to see what’s beautiful.

The reason why CJ and his grandmother are here is that they help out at a soup kitchen. CJ recognizes the faces of people he’s seen there before, and he realizes that he’s glad that he came.

This book is the winner of multiple awards. It’s a Newbery Medal winner, a Caldecott Honor book, and a Coretta Scott King Award honor book for its messages about appreciating and helping other people in a diverse community.

My Reaction

This is one of those picture books that I think can speak to adults as well as kids, maybe even more so because adults might understand some of the broader context of the story. CJ and his grandmother probably don’t have as much money as some of CJ’s friends and their families, which is why they don’t have a car. When CJ comments about why do they have to wait for the bus in the rain, his grandmother could have given him a straightforward answer about how they can’t afford a car, but that would have been depressing. Instead, she points out the positives of the bus and the people they meet. All through the book, she points out the positives about situations that both CJ and the readers can see are not entirely positive. It’s noticing these positives that help make the situation better.

CJ and his grandmother don’t have much money themselves, but Nana is teaching CJ how to help other people and build relationships with them. The people they meet are often poor people or people who are unfortunate in some way, but they still enjoy meeting these interesting people with colorful lives. There are times when CJ wishes that he could be somewhere else or doing something else, but yet, he also enjoys parts of where he is and realizes that what he’s doing is better than other things he could be doing. CJ and his grandmother experience the enrichment of life experiences and relationships with other people.

Posted on by TracyC

Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later)

Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard, paintings by James Ransome, 1991.

On Sunday afternoons, a pair of sisters, Susan and Sarah, go to visit their Great-Great-Aunt Flossie. They love her house because it is full of interesting things, especially Aunt Flossie’s hat collection.

When their aunt welcomes them in, she offers them tea and cookies and promises that they will get some crab cakes later. After they have their tea and cookies, Aunt Flossie lets the girls try on her hats and tells them stories about them.

The girls are fascinated by the different colors and styles of the hats, but to Aunt Flossie, they represent memories. As the girls pick hats to try, Aunt Flossie tells them what the hats remind her of.

One hat that still has a slight smokey smell reminds Aunt Flossie of a big fire she witnessed in Baltimore. Another hat, one with a red feather, reminds Aunt Flossie of the parade she saw at the end of the Great War (what WWI was called before WWII).

Aunt Flossie’s favorite hat has pink and yellow flowers, and it reminds her of the time when she almost lost it, but it was rescued by a friendly dog. The girls love Aunt Flossie’s stories about her hats, and they love the crab cakes they get later with their family!

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

This is a sweet, slice-of-life story about an elderly aunt sharing her memories with her young nieces. The girls enjoy their time with their aunt, trying on the hats in her collection and getting glimpses of the past through her stories. By spending time together, getting together for tea (and crab cakes later) and trying on the hats, the girls are also building new memories. Years later, they will be able to tell stories about the afternoons they spent with Aunt Flossie and the stories she would tell them about her hats. A note in the book’s dedication indicates that the story is based on memories of the author’s own elderly Aunt Flossie.

The pictures in the book are colorful, like the colors of the aunt’s hats, and they’re also a little soft. I think the soft quality of the images is a good match for the memories the aunt shares with the girls and the new memories they’re creating by sharing stories and spending time together as a family.

Posted on by TracyC

Flossie and the Fox

Flossie and the Fox by Patricia C. MicKissack, pictures by Rachel Isadora, 1986.

Little Flossie Finley’s mother asks her to take a basket of eggs to Miz Viola because a fox has been troubling her chickens, and they’re too scared to lay eggs. The fox is a sly creature, and he always seems to outwit the hounds.

Flossie doesn’t remember ever seeing a fox before, and her mother tells her that foxes will do just about anything to get eggs. Flossie isn’t sure what she’ll do if she meets the fox, but she remembers what her mother says about how “a fox be just a fox.” She decides that doesn’t sound too scary.

On the way, Flossie does meet the fox. The fox talks to her, and Flossie can tell that he wants the eggs she’s carrying. However, Flossie refuses to be impressed by the fox and tells him that she doesn’t even believe that he’s a fox because she’s never seen one before. The fox is surprised that she isn’t intimidated by him and tries to prove to her that he’s a real fox.

For everything the fox says to try to prove his identity, Flossie has an answer to deny it. He points out his thick fox fur, but Flossie says that rabbits also have thick fur. His pointed nose also doesn’t mean that he’s a fox because rats also have pointed noses. A cat they meet verifies that the fox is a fox, citing his yellow eyes and sharp claws, but since the cat also has yellow eyes and sharp claws, Flossie says that isn’t proof of being a fox. Even his characteristic bushy tail isn’t firm proof because squirrels also have bushy tails.

There is one being who knows for certain that the fox is a fox – the hounds that chase foxes. Flossie knows that as well as the fox does.

My Reaction

The author’s note in the front of the book says that the author enjoyed listening to stories told by her family when she was young, and the story in this book is one that she remembered from her youth. She particularly wanted to tell this story in a rural Southern dialect, like the one her grandfather used when he used to tell stories.

I enjoyed this fun story where a clever girl tricks a classical trickster. She knows that the fox is really fox, but she uses the similarities between the features of a fox and the features of other animals to pretend like she doesn’t and to keep the fox attempting to convince her until she reaches a point where the fox can no longer pursue her. Knowing the author’s connection to this folk tale style story adds an element of coziness, imagining the author hearing the story as a little girl herself.

The time period of the story is indefinite, but from the characters’ clothes, it looks like it might be some time during the late 19th century or early 20th century.

Posted on by TracyC

The Talking Eggs

The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci, pictures by Jerry Pinkney, 1989.

There was a poor widow who lived on a small farm with her two daughters, Rose and Blanche. Rose was the widow’s favorite daughter because she was so much like her mother. They were both mean and bad-tempered, and they had grand dreams of becoming rich someday, although neither of them had the slightest idea how to accomplish that. Blanche, on the other hand, was a sweet girl, and her mother made her do all the work while she and Rose just sat on the porch, talking about all of their grand dreams.

One day, when Blanche goes to fetch water from the well, an old woman approaches her and begs her for a drink. Blanche gives her some water, and the old woman thanks her, telling her that she will be blessed for her kindness.

However, when Blanche gets home, her mother and sister yell at her for taking so long. They hit her, and Blanche runs away into the woods. Then, she meets the old woman again. She explains to the old woman what happened, and the old woman invites her to come to her house. However, she cautions Blanche not to laugh at what she sees there. Blanche promises that she won’t laugh.

The old woman is no ordinary woman, and everything at her house is strange. Some of these strange things are amusing, some are amazing, and some are just plain weird and a little alarming. The animals are all strange, with chickens of different colors and cows with curly horns. Then, inside the house, the old woman removes her head and puts it in her lap to brush her hair. Then, the woman produces a fancy stew from just one old bone. After supper, they go outside and watch rabbits in fancy clothing dance.

In the morning, the old woman tells Blanche to go out and gather some eggs before she goes home. Blanche is allowed to take any that tell her to take them and to leave ones that say not to take them. Blanche does as she is told, although the ones that tell her to take them are the plain-looking eggs, and the others are covered in jewels. The old woman tells Blanche to throw the eggs over her shoulder, one at a time, and when she does so, the eggs break and wonderful things burst out of them – fancy clothes, coins and jewels, and even a horse and carriage.

By the time Blanche gets home, she has many beautiful clothes, money, and luxurious things. Blanche’s mother pretends to be nice to her when she returns, but it’s only so Blanche will tell her where she got all the rich things. That night, when Blanche is asleep, her mother talks to Rose, telling her that she should also befriend the old woman and get the same rich rewards as Blanche. Then, they will steal all of Blanche’s things and head to the city to live the rich life that they’ve always dreamed of.

Of course, lazy and bad-tempered Rose isn’t as kind or hard-working as her sister. She ignores the old woman’s instructions and does everything she shouldn’t do. When she tries to force the old woman to give her riches, the old woman’s magic gives her and her mother their just desserts.

This book is a Reading Rainbow Book. It is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Review

There is a note at the beginning of the book that this story comes from a Creole folktale that appeared in a 19th century collection of folktales from Louisiana by Alcee Fortier. It resembles folktales from Europe was probably adapted from fairy tales brought to Louisiana by French immigrants. It reminds me of the Mother Holle story, where a kind, well-behaved, hard-working girl is rewarded for following Mother Holle’s instructions, while her spoiled sister is punished for laziness and disobedience.

The old woman in this story is a similar figure to Mother Holle, with strange powers and magical objects, but there is no explanation of who she might be. The fact that she can remove her head just to brush her hair shows that she’s supernatural, but we don’t know if she’s supposed to be a witch or some other supernatural creature.

Personally, I don’t think I would laugh at any of the things in the old woman’s house. I think the strange animals sound more amazing than comical. I think I’d really be impressed by the different-colored chickens and the cows with the weird horns. I have to admit, though, that if someone takes off their head, my first reaction would probably be to run for it.

Posted on by TracyC

Mirandy and Brother Wind

Mirandy and Brother Wind By Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, 1988.

It’s springtime, and “Brother Wind” (the wind personified) is striding through the valley. Young Mirandy is getting ready for the junior cakewalk, and she imagines that, if Brother Wind was her partner, she would be sure to win the cakewalk. Her mother says that anyone who can catch the Wind can make him do whatever they want, so Mirandy decides that she’s going to catch Brother Wind before the cakewalk and make him dance with her!

That’s easier said than done. Mirandy doesn’t know how to catch the Wind, and her grandmother doesn’t think such a thing is possible. She asks different people what to do, and she tries different ways of catching him. She tries catching him in a quilt, but he gets away.

Then, Mirandy tries visiting Mis Poinsettia, the conjure woman (a sort of witch or woman with magical knowledge), and she asks her if she has a potion that would help. Mis Poinsettia’s advice is to trap the Wind in a bottle of cider, but that doesn’t work, either.

Eventually, Mirandy manages to trap Brother Wind in the chicken coop. Once she has Brother Wind, he has to give her a wish. However, on the night of the cakewalk, Mirandy realizes that there is someone else she wants for a partner besides Brother Wind, and she asks Brother Wind for help in a different way from the one she had planned.

My Reaction and Spoilers

I thought this was a charming picture book, with bright, colorful illustrations that really conveyed that sense of lightness and air in the presence of Brother Wind! The old-fashioned clothing of the characters is part of the charm, and I like this sweet introduction to the concept of a traditional cakewalk. Cakewalks were a kind of traditional African American dance contest with a cake as a prize for winning. The people participating are dancing as they parade around the room, which is a little different from the cakewalks or candywalks that some modern people do at school or church carnivals as a kind of raffle game. In the game version, the players are just walking, not dancing, and they stop on numbered spots whenever the music stops, winning prizes if the number of their spot is drawn. For Mirandy, winning the cakewalk isn’t a matter of stopping in the right place but actually dancing well.

All through the book, there is a boy who likes Mirandy, but Mirandy doesn’t think of him as a dance partner because she has her heart set on Brother Wind as the perfect dance partner, and the boy is kind of clumsy. Mirandy really wants to win the contest, so it’s important to her to have the best partner she can. However, when one of the other girls at the cakewalk talks badly about the boy and his clumsiness, Mirandy can’t stand to hear him being insulted. She boldly declares that the boy will be her partner, and they will win in the contest together … with a little help from Brother Wind.