Apple Cake

K-Gr 2—Her nose constantly in a book, Alfonso's beloved Ida is blind to all his attempts to woo her. He lavishes brilliant bouquets of flowers on her and serenades her, but "Ida never looked up." So he goes to great lengths to bake her an apple cake: squeezing butter from the sun, obtaining sugar from the clouds, plucking an egg from a nest atop a tall tree, even sailing the ocean for some salt. At last, the smell of Alfonso's cake prompts her to look up, smile, and eat it with him. Paschkis's small gouache and ink folk figures appear on large expanses of white space, and her familiar patterns are adorned with butterflies, flowers, and domed minarets. Although the text is minimal, the illustrations reveal that this suitor does nothing by half measures. "First he took three apples" shows Alfonso seeking the fruit from a tree at the very top of a mountain. In a page turn, readers see him slicing apples with a sword. "He sifted in a cup of flour" accompanies an image of Alfonso on top of a minaret collecting flour from the evening sky. This story is a celebration of the imagination and should spark discussions about solving problems creatively.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT