BOOKS FOR KEIKI
'Pancake Escape' illustrations fun, full of island sites
By Jolie Jean Cotton
"THE GREAT PANCAKE ESCAPE" by Paul Many, Scott Goto illustrator. Walker & Co., ages 4-8, $16.95
A quick glance at the cover tells you you're in for fun. But what this picture book's cover won't tell you, what you could never guess from its title, is that Honolulu illustrator Scott Goto has packed a whole lot of Hawai'i between the pages. The purpose of Goto's new nationally released collaboration with author Paul Many is to entertain. And it succeeds on many levels.
"This was just a fun book," Goto said. "The author left a lot of room for interpretation. Creatively, I could just go off."
The rhyming read-aloud begins with three children watching their dad mix batter for pancakes. But Dad is a magician and he's using the wrong book. The pancakes come to life, skitter out the door, and the children are off on a crazy adventure to catch their breakfast. These clever cakes don't just race away, they attempt to blend in with their surroundings, becoming Frisbees and roller blades and traffic lights.
Island kids with sharp eyes will particularly appreciate this rollicking escapade through a fictional town. In the opening spread they'll spot the familiar shoyu bottle on the breakfast table and Hawai'i-brand milk and sugar floating above the counter tops. Look for a character in the park who bears a striking resemblance to the wrestling champ "The Rock," and check out the Kamen Rider doll discarded in an alley rubbish bin.
"I thought about using Kikaida instead, but I had a Kamen Rider doll here in my studio," Goto said.
To add to the amusement, verses in the book can be sung to the tune of "O, Susanna." Many writes: "The tires on that taxi cab?/They didn' look quite real./The driver of that city bus/was chomping on the wheel!"
Goto's pancake-wheeled city bus is Honolulu's own, TheBus, with a destination sign that reads "Kalihi." The driver's steering wheel is an enormous pancake from which he's taken a bite. (Notice the driver's aloha shirt?)
The chorus: "Pancakes! Pancakes!/Oh don't you fly from me./For I haven't had my breakfast and my stomach is empty."
Goto's eye-catching acrylics, incorporating a generous variety of angles and perspectives, flawlessly capture the story's excitement. Goto dedicates the book to his 2-year-old nephew Michael and niece Aleix, a student at Hokulani Elementary.
Goto's previously illustrated books for Walker & Co. include "Will Rogers: Larger than Life," "Heatwave!" and "Shoeshine Whittaker." His list of nationally published children's book titles continues to grow.
Goto recently illustrated "The Enormous Turnip" for Harcourt Brace Children's Books, due out this month. This new version of the classic Russian folktale is a longer story with short chapters geared to first and second graders who are reading with help.
