Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson

Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Will Hillenbran

Rating: 5 messy stars!

We've checked this out before. Maybe twice before. Lorelei, Ben, and I all get a kick out of it, but maybe it's because the grandpa is called "Granddad," just like our Granddad (my dad), and the Grandma's birthday is in mid-July, just like our Grandma's (my stepmother), and their personalities are also pretty similar to the quirky, wacky characters in the book. This book is so much fun!

Without Hillenbran's fun illustrations, the poem alone would probably have Lorelei and Ben rooting for more. I mean, I do like to pat myself on the back whenever possible, but when there's a southern accent to jump into and lines like "Grandad was itchin' to traumatize the kitchen" who WOULDN'T jump into character and start hollarin' and yellin' as if I were wearin' overalls and bakin' ten foot high cakes myself! I love almost all of Karma Wilson's books, but THIS one just takes the cake! It is my all-time favorite!

So let's just talk about Hillenbran's illustrations: They are just sloppy enough so that they, too, give the feelin' that you and your kids are in this messy kitchen where, from time to time, you have to duck so that a stick or two of butter or a dozen or three dozen eggs don't come flyin' your way and knock you upside the head. There are splatter marks all over the pages of the book, just like the oil stains and chocolate drippings on your favorite recipes in that old recipe box you've had for too long. They are fun and bright and messy--this man was born to illustrate children's books!

So what do you do when you're done reading a book like this? If you live in my house, you get right up, put your favorite apron on (and, if you're Ben, put your sister's second favorite apron on) and head right over to the play kitchen to fix yourself up some whopper cake. Because there's a recipe on the last page to help you along! Now, don't get too excited, because you actually don't have an excuse to use the truck bed as a mixin' bowl like Granddad does because the recipe actually doesn't call for 10 dozen eggs and 5 boxes of cocoa and 10 bags of flour. We've not made it yet, but since this book seems to be about the birthday of OUR Grandma, we've already got a plan to buy her this book (who says children's books can't be for 64 year old kids?) and make her The Whopper Cake! Anyway, today we went to the kids' new kitchen (thanks, Grammy!) and Lorelei propped up the book, with the recipe page open, just like I prop up my recipes in my grown-up kitchen. Ben and Lorelei mixed away and tucked the "cake" in their little oven. They were good about setting a timer--buttons are the best part of life right now--but they forgot about the whopper cake in the oven because we all went outside to play.

Maybe tomorrow we'll pick up where we left off: We'll read it again and then go get the whopper cake in their oven, where it probably perfectly and magically baked all night long, and then put the icing on it with shovels and oars, just like Granddad does!