Hey, Pancakes!

Say no more!  My lips (and fingertips) are watering just thinking of doing this review.                  

THREE PROS

*Stephen Gammell perfectly captures the spirit of the author's words -- images of flying pancakes that flip in your mind well after you finish reading

*There are a number of well-crafted lines, with the one about the pancake toll being my favorite

*The recipe for grandma's pancakes in back is a nice touch (although the reference to handwashing seems out of place given the kitchen chaos that exists on almost every other page) 

THREE CONS 

*Stumbles out of the gate with two pages that for some reason are contextually confusing the way they are written, despite not being that complicated

*Another story that promotes hiding unwrapped food -- will Harcourt Books subsidize my Terminix bill

*I get what Tamson Weston was trying to do with the whole flap Jack thing, but it's an example of trying too hard 

ONE DAD'S OPINION

I'm torn on the whole having fun vs. creating a huge mess issue at play here.  If your kids chose to reenact this experience scene-for-scene before you woke up in the morning, you'd go ballistic.  But, it's just a book, and a pretty fun one at that, so I'll give it a pass. In the world of pancakes, it's somewhere between IHOP and the best breakfast houses in Amsterdam...in other words, a high Borrow.                              

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