Author/Illustrator: Carmela and Steven D'Amico
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (September 1, 2005)
Genre: Children's Picture Book
Summary and Target Audience:Ella may be little, but she still wants to be a big help. Only, her mother says she is too small to slice the cakes, too young to bake the cookies... how is she supposed to do anything important? She finally gets the chance when her mother asks her to make a big cake delivery, but she is met with certain events, including running into her troublemaker friend Belinda Blue, that threaten to stop her successful completion of delivering the cake on time and in one piece. She has a bumpy ride but makes it safely and is given more responsibility when she returns to the store. The target audience for this story would be students grades K-2 who like suspenseful stories. Ella is relatable and helpful.
Evaluation of Text:
The main character overcame a problem- Ella was nervously excited about delivering this cake to the people who were expecting it at a certain time. However, she is met with difficulty in more than one situation when she interacts with some of the other animals in the town. She is able to overcome these problems and works through them while completing all the extra tasks as well as delivering the cake right on time.
Did it seem natural- The only issue I had with this story is that Ella does not stand up for herself or say no. I know a lot of students especially who are people pleasers and it is ok to help others when you can but I thought the story was lacking a voice for Ella.
The author wanted to tell the audience in the story- I believe the idea was that it is possible to be helpful as well as accomplish the task you set out to accomplish. However, as mentioned above, there is a certain point where it becomes important to stand up for yourself as well.
Literary Elements:
Characterization- The character of Ella is a very sweet, helpful animal of some sort. She sweeps her mothers floor until there "isn't a crumb on it" and makes sure to do everything she can to make the bakery they work at run smoothly. However, her mother tells her she is too young to do the baking and some of the other projects. This is a feeling students will definitely be able to relate to.
Setting- The setting of this story takes place in "Little Village for nearly a year." The beautiful illustrations depict a town on a peninsula and near a very large body of water. When going on her adventure Ella starts at the bakery and travels the whole town in order to deliver the big cake.
Complication- Belinda, a very troublesome character, complicates the process of Ella completing the task of delivering the cake to the lighthouse when she climbs in: "As Ella passed the fire station, she spotted Belinda sitting on the curb. "I'll make room," said Belinda, squeezing in."
Illustrations:
As mentioned above, the illustrations in this text are amazing and very colorful. The characters in the story are almost elephant shaped without the long nose and colored gray. The jacket and first page of the book depict a gorgeous map of the town from a bird's eye view with all of the places Ella visited while taking her cake to the lighthouse. The text is either on a plain white page or in between some of the illustrations.
Mini-lesson:
Since I had such a problem with Ella being walked over, I would use this as either a whole class read-aloud or a small group read-aloud. We would discuss what makes a good friend and draw pictures or write sentences. Then we could make a diagram of what makes us special and if we would have done anything differently in the story than Ella did. We could create our own "Ella's" and make a book of good friendships and the good in each of us.
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