Hey, Pancakes!

by Tamson Weston, Stephen Gammell (illustrator)

There's no better way to start any day than by whipping up a batch of everyone's favorite breakfast treat. Three kids and their helpful dog have taken over the kitchen for some early morning pancake fun. Just a few flips, splatters, and oozing toppings later, the children dig into the yummiest stack of flapjacks ever.
Talented newcomer Tamson Weston and award-winning illustrator Stephen Gammell have teamed up to create a mouthwatering and fun book that's sure to send all kids--and their parents--straight to the kitchen for a heaping stack of their own!
Features a tasty recipe for "Grandma's Pancakes."

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Childrens, Fiction, Cooking, Storytime, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

We very much enjoyed this story and the illustrations as well, parts of both making us laugh out loud.

[Brittaney Ellis]

Text-to-self connection

I am absolutely not a morning person! No matter how much rest I get at night, I do not want to wake up before 9:30 am. I am very grumpy in the morning but waking up to a good breakfast quickly changes my mood. Pancakes are a breakfast favorite at my house. No one can stay in a bad mood once the smell of pancakes and bacon fill the air. We all sit at the table together and enjoy nice conversation while drizzling syrup over our hot, fluffy pancakes! Once we have finished eating, we clean the kitchen together and continue to have a great day. Oh, the love of pancakes!

This is a class-favorite in pre-k!

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

My baby has never had a pancake but he goes nuts over this book. He loves all the sound effects and rhymes. It keeps him excited and engaged all the way through which is not an easy feat.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little book reminded me of Pippi Longstocking and her pancake-making abilities. I found it to be a delightfully messy tale. The illustrations were fantastic.

[Rachel Stine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where are the grownups?!? Otherwise the perfect pancake book.

[Mackenzie Donahoo]

In Hey, Pancakes, we met a little boy who does not want to get out of bed in the morning. He struggles to get up, until he smells pancakes cooking downstairs. He immediately gets up and runs down where he finds his mom making pancakes. She is making a mess, but having so much fun. When the pancakes are done, the little boys sits down to eat them. He eats a ton of pancakes. After he eats, it is time to clean because they made a huge mess. While they are cleaning, the little boy decides he is going to save some for later. After they are done cleaning, they go out to tell everyone about their pancakes. The story ends with the pancake recipe.

I liked this story, because I thought that it was a fun and easy. It was relatable because the kids probably all enjoy pancakes. The picture did a great job at portraying the story well.

I could use this in the class to talk about recipes and measurement because it has a pancake recipe within it. I could talk about what teaspoons and tablespoons are if the students are old enough for that. The book also has a lot of rhyming words, so I could talk about sentence structure as well.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sounds and phrases tell this short story.

Ages: 3 - 7

Cleanliness: "for goodness sake" and "holy cow" are said.

**Like my reviews? I also have hundreds of detailed reports that I offer too. These reports give a complete break-down of everything in the book, so you'll know just how clean it is or isn't. I also have Clean Guides (downloadable PDFs) which enable you to clean up your book before reading it!

Visit my website!

[Emma Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an illustrated poem about pancakes. It shows waking up to the smells and sounds of making pancakes. It takes you through the process of making them and eating them.

I loved this book. The poem was super cute and the illustrations worked well with it. I think it is very fun and cute.

I would use this book to talk about poetry or just as a fun read-aloud.

[Melissa Namba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's be honest. I'm giving it 5 stars for the art. The storyline is basic and there is a pancake recipe at the end. But I grew up with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. You can definitely see the same style of art here even though it is made to be more child friendly. I think most of us who grew up with Scary Stories are pretty devoted to the art of Gammell.

[Amber Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about three siblings making pancakes for breakfast. They go through all the steps of how to make pancakes and how much they love pancakes. I like how this book rhymes. This book even has the cleanup in it too because it is important to cleanup after making a mess.

[XIS Grade 3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry: I disliked this book because there are many messy dots, but I liked it because the pictures are good.

[Library Lady Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love all of the activity in these illustrations.

[Brigitte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know I'm not the only one who picks up a book with food on the cover and instantly becomes intrigued as to what is inside.
That was the case with this find--that, and I noticed Stephen Gammell's artwork straightaway and was immediately invested :D
Be careful, may cause EXTREME hunger!

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a last-minute selection for my niece, and I didn't really think about it much. I should have thought about it more, because the little rugrat just isn't this into pancakes. Luckily, I also had a unicorn book lined up that was much more her jam.

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

onomatopoeia

[Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a mess

[Pug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy, messy artwork in this book. It definitely made us crave pancakes, though!

[Alea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book is perfect for children possibly in kindergarten. This book is a fun, busy and colorful book that is sure to hold the attention of younger readers. This book talks about three children and their dog, who takes over the kitchen and has fun making pancakes for breakfast. They enjoy the team work in making a mess and creating a delicious breakfast that seems to be everyone's favorite.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is no one concerned about the content of this book? A little girl standing on a chair, leaning over a stove, holding a pan up off the stove to a tilt, looking like she'll fall face first onto the stove and with no parents in sight? (This isn't even mentioning the utter filth around the house.) Here we go, if the above isn't enough let's throw this in for good measure. Here we have the same girl swinging the pan upwards (to "flip" the pancakes) with what we can assume is hot grease spilling down out of the pan and the pan looking like it'll throw more in her face. Yup. That's the perfect morning I want to portray to my daughter. Matter of fact, I know what we're doing tomorrow. wtf.
Oh! Turn the page again and we have the girl holding the pan sideways up in the air while throwing the pancakes across the room to a plate her brother holds - WITH a baby brother in the middle.
Ooops, missed one almost. How about the girl running through the house with the pan out in front of her? Or throwing the pancakes on the dog?
Let's throw this in as well, another page of flipping the pan up so the pancakes fly to the ceiling and this time we have the other brother pointing to the ceiling as if it's the coolest thing in the world.
Now, for the actual writing and illustrations. And let me assure everyone now, I'm nothing if not honest. And this sucks all around. The rhyming sucks, the wording sucks, the illustrations are atrocious. This isn't "fun" at all and if that's what the author and illustrator were going for they need to start back at the beginning.
Don't waste your time and for the love of God above don't spend any money on this garbage.

[Kelly Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is bright, messy, chaotic, and nostalgic.

[Amy Seto · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s nothing like a stack of pancakes covered in butter and syrup to make getting out of bed easier in the morning! The three siblings in this story cook up a pancake storm with a “sift, stir, whir, whisk.” They don’t just cook and eat the pancakes; they celebrate the wonderfulness of pancakes with snappy rhymes and exuberant joy:

“With a little dab of maple behind each ear,
go out in the world and give a pancake cheer!”

Weston’s rhyming text is more like a chant or cheer, with lots of exclamations, “Shazzam!” “Holy Cow!” Gammell takes the text and runs; there’s no end to the imaginative ways the kids cook and eat pancakes. They cook pancakes in different shapes, flip them through the air, eat them with syrup and jam and berries, and even stash a few in the basement (for later). The illustrations are colorful and chaotically joyful. Splatters of color (or maybe pancake batter?) adorn each page, as the round-faced, button-nosed children eat pancake after pancake.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too much text per page for toddler group. It might get long for them, but then the ideas I have to go with it might keep their attention. The pictures have the child-drawing feel, but you can still recognize what is going on, it adds to the flavor (ha ha) of the book, and is not too distracting (at least to me). I like that there is a pancake recipe on the back. Maybe that's because I'm on a pancake kick.

8/10/10 & 8/12/10 This was a fun read with the toddlers. They know what pancakes are and had fun "making" and "eating" them with me. The pictures seemed just right, too.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three kids get up and make their own pancakes for their breakfast creating a yummy mess (which they do clean up). The text is written in non-rhyming poetry about the process of making pancakes, eating them, and cleaning up, with a definite beat kids could clap along to. The book is pretty light and fluffy, like pancakes. Don't go in expecting something profound. But kids should like the fun topic. Youngsters with eye problems may have trouble focusing on the splatter paint style pictures.

[Stephanie Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not one of my favorites. I felt that the illustrations were messy and cluttered. Also, the text confused me at some points. I did like a couple aspects of this book. One aspect I liked was the rhyming of some words. I also liked that at the end the author included her grandma's recipe for pancakes.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rhymes work well for a storytime and the text is best suited to children in preschool and younger, but the illustrations are a little on the busy side for that age group. Still, this is a fun read-aloud for a large group.

[Dominique Maderitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about a little boy who really love pancakes. This book was okay but was not to much of a story. I think this story could be good for a child to learn how to read because there is not much text. The book itself and the pictures are done beautifully but the story lacks meaning.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted pancakes after reading this picture book. The illustration are different and look like someone colored crayons all over the pages. I do like the concepts that are in the book, such as "there" and "here".

[Kaycee Greenwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for pancake lovers everywhere! It is a fun and simple book that uses tons of onomatopoeias that will keep kids excited. The back of the book even has a recipe for "Grandma's Pancakes". Neat!

[Angie Quantrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent funny illustrations for this picture book. I love the theme of pancakes and the mess the kids make (and clean up). I enjoy the rhyme, but some part I cannot get into the correct rhythm as a read-aloud. Overall this is a great book! Especially if you love pancakes.

[Tam]

cutest illustrations