It was on my birthday that I saw this book in the middle of the shelf at the local library where I was with my children. What a birthday gift to find this gem that I have somehow missed! Debra Frasier is the author of the classic On the Day You Were Born, a book I read often to my children when they were babies.
In A Birthday Cake is No Ordinary Cake, the premise is that it takes an entire year to bake a birthday cake. Science is woven in as the earth rotating around the sun is integrated into the beautifully crafted story. It reads as a recipe, but each season is highlighted since it takes a full year to have another birthday. There are many strong verbs and sensory details.
This is a book I plan on ordering for my classroom library. I can see it being a useful mentor text for several areas of writing and it would be a great text to read during a unit on seasons and how the earth revolves around the sun.
In the About the Author section at the back of the book, I love how Debra Frasier recalls writing a sentence in her notebook when her daughter was turning 1: "She's finished her first circle around the Sun, and now she is one." It was this sentence and her daughter's fascination with cakes that came together for inspiration for this book. It took 18 years. You just never know where what you write in your notebook could lead! That is a great story to share with my students.
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