The Pancake Boy: An Old Norwegian Folk Tale

A retelling of the traditional Norwegian tale about the adventures of a runaway pancake

K-Gr 3 A colorful, but visually static, version of the Norwegian tale of the runaway pancake. Cauley's retelling incorporates the multiple escapes found in the related story ``The Gingerbread Boy'' and the rhyming animal names used in ``Henny Penny.'' Archaic words such as ``trice'' and ``t'other'' add folkloric elements to this somewhat stilted telling. Cauley's full-color pencil drawings lack the excitement usually generated by a ``chase story.'' Rosy-cheeked and doll-like, Goody Poody and her seven children are posed stiffly around the object of their hunger, a bubbling, sweet-milk pancake. (A recipe precedes the story.) To escape his fate, the pancake rolls away down the road encountering Ducky Lucky, Goosey Poosey, et. al. Cauley's bird characters are more life-like than her people, but compared to her version of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (Putnam, 1984) the illustrations lack vitality, inventive detail, and compositional variety. The satisfying sense of linkage usually present in a cumulative tale is missing. None of the pancake's pursuers meet, and none are present at the story's end to see the overly-smug pancake become a snack for a wily pig. Large, clear illustrations should make this tale an appropriate choice for story hour; however, it is regrettable that simplicity is accompanied by blandness. Carey Ayres, Port Washington Public Library, N.Y. Copyright 1989 Cahners Business Information.