Yesterday afternoon just after we finished our lessons I sent the girls out to check the mail.  In they came with usual stack of catalogs and junk mail, but at the bottom of the stack was a slim package.  Oh, Goody!  The book I’ve been waiting on!  It turns out that this old poem, written by Carol Ryrie Brink (copyright 1937) and brought to life for the today’s reader by illustrator Ashley Wolff, made the perfect tea time read-aloud.  I ordered it without knowing much about it at all–just that it is a recommended Thanksgiving title at Homeschool Share and that it’s written by one of our favorite authors.   I actually didn’t even know it is a poem!  I am so glad I ordered this little picture book to share with my girls; it’s one I’m really, really happy to add to our Thanksgiving collection. 

Well, actually, it’s not just a Thanksgiving story.  It’s a little snapshot for the senses of what happens when the kindly Goody O’Grumpity bakes a cake.  Each two-age spread is illustrated in beautiful style by Ashley Wolff’s bold linoleum block prints.  Each panel is bordered by a heavy black line that draws attention to each scene, drawing out the effect of Goody O’Grumpity’s baking day on the rest of her pilgrim village.  The lovely, saturated images paired with Brink‘s evocative verse make this a not-to-be-missed reading and listening experience.  It’s a very playful rhyme, as these lines attest:

And the children flocked

by dozens and tens.

They came from the north,

the east and the south

With wishful eyes

and watering mouth,

And stood in a crowd

about Goody’s door,

Their muddy feet

on her sanded floor.

And what do you s’pose

they came to do!

Why, to lick the dish

when Goody was through!

 The aroma of Goody’s baking cake wafts through the village and even out to the river and to the Native American village nearby.  Even the animals sense the deliciousness baking in the outdoor community oven!  My girls’ immediate reaction after enjoying this book was to hop up from our tea time table and make Goody O’Grumpity’s spice cake, the recipe for which Ashley Wolff provides at the story’s end.  Since it was late in the afternoon (and we had already made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!), we put this off for another day.  After all, it’s still a week until Thanksgiving; we still have time for our spice cake, and for several more re-readings of this wonderful sensory reading experience.  Highly Recommended!  (North-South Books, 1994)

This week’s Poetry Friday carnival is hosted by Tabatha Yeatts:  The Opposite of Indifference.  Check it out!