The Great Caper Caper by Josh Funk & Brendan Kearney

Why this book?

I was so excited to see the latest “Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast” book! This one is a fun mystery with a friendship theme. I love how the characters work together to solve their problem.

A plus for these books is that there's humor in this story for grown-ups as well as kids, so they can be enjoyed by all age levels. It's definitely one you can read more than one time to appreciate all the details and the humor!

My thoughts as a creator:

What a great example of a rhyming story with a strong plot and storyline! I’m also amazed at how the author-illustrator team manage to work in so many characters and create a satisfying ending. This one is a great book to study if you love to write word play or want to see how another author uses “made up” names for settings in a humorous picture book.

My thoughts as an educator:

This is a great story to read with children to promote a love of reading! The fun characters based on food are really appealing to kids. I also loved how the characters work together to solve their problems. The illustrations contain lots of details that children can spend time looking at when reading the book on their own.

Ages: 4 - 7

Grades: K - 3

Connections: problem-solving,  teamwork, rhyming, friendship

Activities:

Literacy & Dramatic Play: Try retelling the main events of the story. Children could draw the characters and attach to popsicle sticks to make puppets to retell the story events.

Literacy & Drawing: Talk about all the interesting places in the refrigerator! Encourage children to draw a map (or draw a map together) of some of the fun places. Bonus: Children could add to the map with their own imaginative names for places.

Literacy & Art: Look at the fun postcards from “Las Veggies” at the end of the book. Encourage children to design their own postcard from one of the characters in the story.

STEM: Create a challenge to build a tower using materials from around the classroom.

 

More info:

For a peek at an earlier adventure of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast, check out my post on The Case of the Stinky Stench.

THE GREAT CAPER CAPER was recently selected as an Indie Kids' Next Pick.

This post is part of the The Great Caper Caper blog tour! Check out these other places to learn more about this story:

 

 

 

Description from the publisher:  

In the fifth adventure of the Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast series, our delectable rhyming friends find their home covered in darkness and embark on a Las Veggies heist—perfect for fans of The Food Group series.

When Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast awake one morning to near-darkness, they are aghast. Who would steal the fridge light? And what if the fridge is—gasp—dark all the time? Not to worry. Our trusty heroes are on the case. Will they be able to bring the fridge back to its bright self, or will they have to live in semi-darkness…forever?

The Great Caper Caper was written by Josh Funk, illustrated by Brendan Kearney and published by Union Square & Co.