Identify Books In Favor Of Cupcake
| ISBN: | 1423118979 (ISBN13: 9781423118978) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Charise Mericle Harper
Hardcover | Pages: 32 pages Rating: 4.08 | 816 Users | 124 Reviews
Narrative Conducive To Books Cupcake
You play dirty pool, Charise Mericle Harper. It isn't enough that you've a brand new and very sparkly picture book out. Oh no. You had to go and write one about a cupcake. Cupcakes! The world's most perfect, most delicious food. How is any gatekeeper of children's literature (teachers, parents, librarians, booksellers, etc.) going to resist a book that stars the world's ultimate tasty treat? Unfair, say I. Then I remember that there's nothing stopping the other authors out there from writing their own cupcake-based books. Ms. Harper just happened to be the one to realize the potential. The result is a book that is smart, funny, and as simple as the vanilla cupcake on its cover. In a word: sweet.When Cupcake was baked everything was awesome. He introduced himself to all his siblings (Rainbow-Sprinkles Cupcake, Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcake, Stripy Cupcake, etc.) and was perfectly happy with his lot. That is, until the end of the day when all the other cupcakes got picked and Cupcake was left sitting by himself. Joined by an equally plain candle the two decide that what Cupcake needs is a special topping. Pickles don't seem to work. Spaghetti? Not so much. And don't even talk about the incident with the squirrel. However, when Candle sees a nut left on the top of Cupcake he goes up there to take it off . . . then realizes something. The final shot is of the candle yelling with triumph, "Tomorrow let's try a potato!"
I first fell for the seemingly simple style of Ms. Harper when she wrote the Fashion Kitty graphic novels. Those were books that I was fairly certain I would hate right off the bat. Fashion meets comics meets kitties How on earth could that be good Doggone it if the woman doesn't know how to write a funny story though. I still quote the line "I love you but I'd really like to eat you " out of context all the time earning me many a pitying stare from the passersby . Her Just Grace books are another great example. Seemingly simple on the outside. Surprisingly witty and vivacious on the inside. Cupcake is definitely of the same ilk.
Ms. Harper's artistic style reminds me of nothing so much as a variation on that of fellow author/illustrator Meghan McCarthy. Of course, while Ms. McCarthy does mostly non-fiction picture books, Harper sits squarely in the realm of the fictional. At first this book looks pretty straightforward too. Hand drawn art (colored in by PhotoShop). That sort of thing. But there's also a bit of mixed media here as well. The tablecloth where much of the action takes place looks like a real tablecloth. It's probably also PhotoShopped, but who cares? This is a book where the art serves to show off the personality of the characters. And if there's one thing Ms. Harper excels at, it's personality.
I'll level with you here. As I flipped through the book on an initial pass I was pretty sure that I knew what the ending would be. That's right. I was basically reading the book like a five-year-old. "Surely the ending will be that the candle realizes that it's the perfect topping for the cupcake," I thought smugly. In fact (and this kind of kills me) I did the worst possible thing a librarian can do when reading a picture book. I got to the penultimate page and then . . . and then . . . I PUT IT DOWN. That's right! I didn't even get to the ending. I just put it down and walked away. It wasn't until later that a small pocket of my brain thought, "Wait a minute. This is Charise Mericle Harper we're dealing with. What are the chances that she didn't end the book with the expected coup d'état? So I raced back, checked, and sure as shooting it was a surprise ending. D'oh! Fooled like a little kid! Let's hope that your preschoolers have a bit more picture book savvy than I did when they read this book.
There are plenty of books out there where the main characters don't want to get eaten. My thinking is that in this story Vanilla Cupcake really hasn't thought through all the potential ramifications of being a fancy dessert. Really, the book that this reminded me of the most was Arnie the Doughnut. Cupcake is clearly a distant relative of Arnie, though Arnie is far more aware of his potential fate than this book's tasty treat. Whatever the case, I kind of love the lack of a moral in this story. It easily could have swerved in the direction of the old lesson, "Just because you're plain looking you can still have a great personality" (most books tiptoe around these exact words, but that tends to be the general gist). This book shows someone who is outwardly plain at the start and remains outwardly plain at the end with a fellow plain friend. Moral schmoral. This is just fun storytelling. It gets to fool the reader and make the child who picks up this book feel smarter than a cupcake. What's better than that?
The sole flaw with the book, as I see it, is that after you stare at the cover for a couple minutes you suddenly want nothing more than to get your hands on a delicious vanilla cupcake of your own. Fortunately there's a recipe at the back (complete with a cupcake toting squirrel) for making your own "Deliciously Plain Vanilla Cupcakes" with their own "Deliciously Plain Buttercream Frosting". So you lack for nothing, really. It's a funny story about an unlikely edible hero (my favorite kind of hero) and a problem that kids will be able to solve while the main characters remain ignorant. What's not to love? As per the usual Charise Mericle Harper fare, this is just fun fun fun. Deliciously so.
Ages 4-8.
Point Epithetical Books Cupcake
| Title | : | Cupcake |
| Author | : | Charise Mericle Harper |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 32 pages |
| Published | : | January 18th 2010 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| Categories | : | Childrens. Picture Books. Food and Drink. Food. Storytime |
Rating Epithetical Books Cupcake
Ratings: 4.08 From 816 Users | 124 ReviewsComment On Epithetical Books Cupcake
I saw some negative reviews on Amazon about how this (hilarious) book fails to teach an important life lesson - who are these people? There are about 7 billion (more boring and obvious) children's books out there that espouse Loving Yourself for Who You Are - people spend vast lifetimes attempting to achieve this goal, and Harper is smart enough to know that a book about a vanilla cupcake read at the age of 4 is probably not going to do much to pave that way. This book is wonderful andCupcake is a story of two entities coming together to support. each. other. Cupcake was left over after all his brothers and sisters went to avalon, Candle was just an ordinary candle, with lots of fancy brothers and sisters too. Candle has lots of suggestions for a special topping to help Cupcake find happiness. Will this experiment in mutual aid be successful?
You cant go wrong with a book that not only has a sparkly fun cover but its about cupcakes to! This is a story about Cupcake, who was vanilla with white frosting while all her friends had sprinkles, chocolate frosting and other exciting toppings. When Cupcake finds herself alone on the platter she doesnt know if she wants to a plain old cupcake anymore. Luckily she runs into candle and he helps her figure out what the best topping would be. If you love cupcakes then make sure to come an devour
Cute and yummy - the art is what gets me.
Cupcake was born in an oven. It was not like it's brothers or sisters that were all fancy and colorful...in fact this cupcake was rather vanilla. It makes a friend in a small green candle and they try to figure out how to get someone to pick them. One would think that the candle would be more "bright" and figure out how to accomplish this. My daughter enjoyed looking at all the different cupcakes in this book. I, however, did not like how the ending was left open. Did they get picked or not?
It never fails. Every time I read this book aloud to my toddler, I develop this killer craving for a vanilla cupcake! Aside from that, as other reviewers have noted, the unexpected ending really makes the story. Let's give kudos to the entire second half of the book, where the character of Candle tries out different toppers on Cupcake to try to make him feel "special." Pickles or smelly cheese, anyone? The book ends without a clear resolution, but when you're laughing, it doesn't seem to matter
I love the purpose behind this book - you are perfect just the way you are. A plain old vanilla cupcake feels sad because he didn't get picked like the cupcake with sparkles etc. A plain green candle comes along and tries to help him find a way to decorate himself so he can get picked. They try some pretty comical, not possible items that make the book fun and silly. In the end plain cupcake thinks the plain green candle is the perfect decoration. Green candle doesn't quite get it!Read with my
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