The Night It Rained Pancakes by Mirra Ginsburg

At first when I was reading this book, I kept catching myself thinking about a biblical story - the one about the two brothers, one who is good and obedient, and one who leaves home and wastes all of his father's money. There was a similar kind of good brother/bad brother dichotomy at play in this book. However, the good brother in this book was genuine as well as gullible, something that is missing from the good brother in the biblical tale. The gullibility, though, is something that is fun for kids and makes it reachable to younger children.

This story is based on a Russian folklore, and I have to say I was a little confused about where this tale was going at the beginning. The "bad" brother, Ivan, put pancakes in a tree, a bunny in a fish net, and a fish in a bunny trap - all of which were done with no explanation. I was beginning to question Russia's ability to come up with a good tale. (No offense.) But I was biting my tongue a few pages later. Everything came together, everything had a purpose. It was a total "aha!" moment, and I must admit that Russia came up with a pretty smart folktale in this one.

And now for the real reason I picked this book off the shelf. I totally have to share this because it's been an obsession as of late. I LOVE pancakes. Seriously. LOVE. Not lying, I've been eating pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past week. I don't know what's come over me - but it's a serious problem. And my boyfriend and I have been having a competition to see who can make the best pancakes. I'm totally winning, by the way. Yum, I made the BEST pancakes the other day - so fluffy! Ha, don't know why I thought it was important for you to know that - but it is. :)