If you don't know about Farmer Pettson and his cat Findus, go to my past blog post here. I had fun visiting an awesome interactive children's exhibit featuring the books during my visit to Lund, Sweden. You'll be guaranteed many laughs from these picture books by Sven Nordqvist.
The Birthday Cake is one of my grandsons' current favorite read alouds. All Pettson's neighbors think he's a little crazy as they mistaken his round-about quest to obtain an ingredient for some birthday pancakes as eccentric, bizarre behavior. Well, it actually is eccentric and bizarre, but it has a purpose...
Pettson's cat Findus celebrates his birthday three times a year. When Pettson sets out to make the pancake-cake, he finds that he's missing a key ingredient: flour. This starts a hilarious chain of events resulting in Pettson distracting a bull, in order to climb through a skylight into his attic to find his fishing pole to fish the key out of the well, so he can open his shed, fix his flat tire, then ride to the store to buy some flour (and a new pair of overalls) - all in order to make a tasty cake for Findus!
The last page of the book has a recipe for the pancakes. My daughter and I decided to make them with my grandsons.
Interesting tidbits about Sven Nordqvist...
Sven Nordqvist was born in Helsingborg, Sweden. Although he studied architecture, he always wanted to be an illustrator and found work illustrating advertisements, posters, and textbooks. He is a renowned children’s book illustrator and writer in Sweden and across Europe. When he’s not illustrating books for children, he spends time building playgrounds, children’s play areas at hospitals, and decorations for schools. Carpentry has always been an important part of Nordqvist’s life—often reflected in the actions of his industrious character Pettson—with the central goal being the enrichment of children’s lives. [Source: go here.]
What a sweet way to spend time with your grandchildren! I just looked up his books at our library and they don't have "The birthday cake," but they do have "Pancake Pie!"
ReplyDeleteI checked out Sven Nordqvist's "Pancake Pie" and the farmer is named Festus and his cat, Mercury! Delightful story, we've read it several times!
ReplyDeleteI believe that is the older/original story - 1985! It's been retitled twice, to Pancakes with Findus (2008) and The Birthday Cake (2015). Funny that the cat is named Mercury - must've been before Sven Nordqvist started the Findus series? Cool - thanks for sharing! :)
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