Pancakes for Plum by Rae Tan

Plum is a very unhappy panda. She feels she is not good at anything. Her brother is good at climbing, so she tries too, but she falls back to the ground. Second brother loves to paint, so she tries too. But she gets herself covered in paint.

She snuggles sadly into her mother’s lap, and she is assured that she will find something she is good at.

One morning she wakes to lovely music just like the warmth of a stack of pancakes. She follows the music, and finds Old Panda playing the piano. He offers to teach her how to play. She is reticent, but he assures her that when her heart flips over like a pancake, she should try.

This is the hardest thing she has ever tried. Old Panda tells her to be gentle, as soft and light as a pancake. Week after week she tries, and finds that she is getting better and better.

Mama, Big Brother and Second Brother love her music, and invite everyone to hear her play. Plum tells them all that playing music makes her feel as happy as eating pancakes, perhaps even more.

Plum has pursued her dream, she has tried many things until finding the thing she loves. Her journey is likened all the time to her love of pancakes, keeping her aim close to the hearts of the readers. She initially follows the smell of a pancake, and at the end, she finds her niche, likening it to her love of pancakes. Her heart flips like a pancake, she must be gentle like a soft warm pancake, and in the end she is successful.

I love the illustrations, the number of pancakes on each page increasing as the story unfolds.  Readers will love Plum’s pursuing her dream. She has obstacles to overcome, but keeps trying. The idea of the pancake is wonderful, and I am sure readers will want to try their hands at flipping them.

Themes: Journeys, Self image, Determination, Striving, Humour.

Fran Knight