Thunder Cake

Thunder Cake, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. Okay, do you remember the movie Poltergeist? Well that is kind of what I think of with this book, you know the scene where the boy is afraid of the storm, so the father tells him to count the seconds in between the lightning and the thunder? Well this book has that same notion of storm tracking, but with time that is much better spent, making a cake! During the storm Babushka takes her Granddaughter around her farm to gather all the ingredients to make a homemade thunder cake. I like this notion, because kids can see where their food comes from, something kids miss out on knowing more and more as urban sprawl begins to take over our lives. I remember in forth grade we read this story during our science unit on storms. We used the counting in between lighting and thunder hypothesis, and explored the mathematical formula that was used to actually track the eye of the storm. In traditional Polacco style, Thunder Cake is told from the perspective of a girl of about ten or so, who is having the experience with her Grandmother. There is of course the ever present goat who watches over the Polacco characters, and a reason for the character to become stronger and overcome her fears of thunder.