What If Your Mom Made Raisin Buns?

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Company’s coming and Mom has baked some raisin buns. While Mom is
occupied with other preparations for her guests, the young protagonist
of the story is very busy taking all the raisins out of all the buns,
gluing them to the wall, and drawing legs on them so they look like
bugs. Once discovered, he must, of course, make amends. Mother, making
the punishment fit the crime, insists that he remove all the raisins
from the wall, wash them, and put them back in the buns. As the guests
leave, having enjoyed their tea and raisin buns, we see the young
culprit still hard at work scrubbing all the little legs off the wall.

Young audiences will find much that is familiar in this charming tale
of mischief and mayhem. The repetitive nature of the story, each page
beginning with, “What if your Mom made raisin buns…” will
encourage children to chime in. They will delight in predicting what
will happen next, and the final question, “Would you ever do that
again?” will undoubtedly elicit a variety of responses.

Hilda Rose’s cartoon-like illustrations and the comments from the
guests add to the enjoyment of the story. Gert and Harold, two real bugs
who inadvertently get mixed up in the mess, are particularly humorous.

The conclusion of the story, “What if your Mom made chocolate chip
cookies?” provides a perfect opportunity for students to write their
own sequels. Highly recommended.