by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 08, 2010

There's a secret history behind this book. Though "Pancakes for Supper" was written in 2006, it's based on an infamous children's story from 1899. Both stories describe a child who outwits some nasty talking animals determined to steal their clothes. (And in both stories, the child tricks the animals into running after each other in a circle - until they turn into butter, which is served on pancakes.) "Pancakes for Supper" is an innocuous fantasy set in the old west. But the difference in the stories tell us something about how much the world has changed.

The original 1899 story was called "The Story of Little Black Sambo," and Wikipedia argues it's this book that "may have contributed to the use of the word 'sambo'  as a racial slur." (The illustrations, and possibly even the text, have been seen as a derogatory caricature of the children in India.) In the 1960s a chain of pancake restaurants adopted little Sambo as their mascot - over 1000 0f them - though within 20 years they'd close every restaurant due in part to the controversial character. In 2006, Anne Isaacs  made a new attempt to retell the story with a new mission: to delight children instead of offending adults!

"Pancakes for Supper" opens with a girl named Toby on a spring morning in March. She's riding on the back of a bouncing horse-drawn wagon that her parents are taking into Whisker Creek. But the wagon hits a bump, and Toby sails high up into the sky, eventually landing in a forest where she meets the animals who want to steal her fine clothing. A wagon bump wouldn't bounce a real girl that deeply into the woods. But Isaacs wants to establish that this story is a fantasy - before she surprises her young readers with animals that can talk!

She gets some help from illustrator Mark Teague, who has illustrated more than 40 children's books (according to Wikipedia). But he's also written some very funny children's books, including "The Secret Shortcut" and "Dear Mrs. Larue," a funny series of letters from obedience school written by a complaining dog! The book's jacket says Teague always loved "the bold-colored pulp art of the 1930s, and he used that as inspiration to capture the energy and motion in this story." Teague paintings are very colorful, and he seems to want to add extra excitement into Isaacs' fanciful story

A lot of care has obviously been put into the creation of this book. Teagues is an award-winning illustrator, and Isaacs has even won a Caldecott Honor medal, according to the book's jacket. There's even a pancake recipe on the book's back cover. ("Please make sure to have a parent help you.") In the end, it's an attempt to bury the ugliness that clung to the original story, and to instead remind children of something that's more simple, sweet and wonderful.

Pancakes!

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