Where is the Cake Now?

Where is the Cake Now? by T.T. Khing

Published: 2005

Where is the Cake Now? is a wordless picture book that follows the popular wordness book Where is the Cake?, also by T.T. Khing. This wordless book is a fun adventure story that shows a group of animals who decide to have a picnic. Within the detailed illustrations, the reader watches as the animals travel through the countryside searching for the perfect place to set up their picnic and eat their cake. Once they find the right spot, the animals discover the cake is missing! Since the reader was typically not looking for the cake during the first read, this book renders a re-read in order to follow the trail the cake takes, and determine where the cake disappeared to. 

Response: Where is the Cake? is a great book to discuss following dreams, and standing up for what you believe in. Through the active illustrations, the reader is able to place themself within the story as the animals travel through hills, rivers, and set up their perfect picnic. I used this book when I began a lesson on looking and learning from illustrations. Students love to discuss what is happening in the story, and it provokes the thought that illustrations hold a lot more value than they anticipated. The illustrations are detailed and colorful and the scenery is realistic. This could be used to discuss the different settings, and how they shape a story. I decided to disclose the title of the book until after the initial read. I did this intentionally to demonstrate that rereading not only helps develop a deeper understanding, but it allows for the attention of different details. Students will love the idea that they did not realize the cake was missing until the end, then they can backtrack and look for different details as they read the story again.
  

Analysis: Wordless picture books are a great way to encourage creativity with students. Specifically, with this book, students are able to write the story from what they can observe from the illustrations. They can pair up with a friend, or write the text for the book as if they were the author. This allows for the students to create, and put themselves within the role of the author. This also allows students to look deeply within illustrations, and create a stronger lens for recognizing detail from the illustrations. All illustrations are intentional. I also utilized wordless books to discuss the concept of visualizing with my class. We talked about how illustrations in all books deepen our understanding of the book, and used this book to recognize how illustrations give readers more information and add to our comprehension of the different story elements. This wordless picture book could also spark the creation of a plotline, or storyline, that follows the story, and then create a parallel plotline that follows the cake.  Through this, it will solidify the value of illustrations, and validate the concept that picture books successfully exist as a combination of both text and illustration.