Annie and the corn cakes

My mother buys Annie books. Mom has a love affair with children's literature and has even dabbled in some of her own work - she loves a good story and admires, and is one of the lucky ones that can actually create, beautiful artwork. Dad will buy Annie toys and give her money for hugs, but Mom will always be the one to give her books.

Annie received a few books this birthday, King Bidgoods in the Bathtub and Rain Makes Applesauce - both of which Annie loves to read, but the winner of the bunch was Annie and the Wild Animals. It's a story about a little girl about Annie's age whose cat, Taffy, disappears for a little while. She gets lonely and decides to get a new pet. She makes corn cakes and puts them out at the "edge of the wood" to attract the pet, but she gets a Moose and a bear and a wildcat and a wolf instead of her soft, tame Taffy. Annie runs out of cornmeal and Taffy returns, bringing three fuzzy little kittens with her.

It's a sweet story about feline pregnancy and the ability for five-year-olds to make their own corn cakes. At least this is what Annie thinks. She's been begging to make corn cakes ever since we got the book, so last night, I let her help me make corn cakes. In order to be realistic, she showed me the pictures of the corn cakes in the book and asked me to pretend it was snowing (even though it was 101 degrees yesterday). She was only mildly disappointed that my cornmeal came in a PETE container instead of a wooden barrel. We pretended, and she ate the corn cakes.

I am only a little worried that she will want to attract a Moose/Bear/Wildcat/Wolf with the remaining corn cakes. I think the most she would get in our neighborhood is a coyote or javalina, but maybe we should try.