The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake

by Nancy Willard, Richard Jesse Watson (Illustrator)

Three astounding angels appear in the kitchen hoping for a taste of the magical secret-ingredient angel food cake a young girl makes for her mother€™s birthday. €œA fresh, amusing piece.€--Booklist

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Food, Fiction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

NANCY WILLARD was an award-winning children's author, poet, and essayist who received the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She wrote dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She also authored two novels for adults, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, and twelve books of poetry, including Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems. She lived with her husband, photographer Eric Lindbloom, and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Reviews

[Cheryl]

Not sure how this got on my list. It best fits on Christian/ Inspirational shelves.
However, I'm very glad I read it, because it's actually much more than that.

Remembering great-grandmother, honoring the self-centered aunt and uncle, seeing the hidden bear in the coffee stain on the tablecloth, a puzzle, a piano, and a bit of magic (or is it a miracle?)... I agree with my library that put '4th grade' on the sticker on this book. Preschoolers with long attention spans might like it, but I think it takes a bit more maturity to fully appreciate it. The art is wonderful, fresh and creative, and both lovely and fun.

(The people who think the art is dated must not like Van Gogh or Warhol or Da Vinci either. I mean, come on, what does 'dated' mean?)

[Becca]

Some books just never grow old. I remember being read this book in second grade by our school librarian. I found the story and especially the illustrations so riveting and magical. I still see my librarian from time to time and I mentioned to her some time back just how much I loved this book and asked her if she still reads it to her classes. She has since surprised me with my own copy and says she will start reading it again. That meant the world to me.

[Alice]

It's a children's book, but the illustrations alone make it worth the purchase.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I like the story better than I do the illustrations.

[Catherine]

One of my all-time favorite children's books. So glad to recently rediscover this favorite from my own childhood.

[Kirsten]

"Let me tell you about my angels." Such a wonderful opening line.

It is amazing what six years does to change one's perspectives.

I first read this book in sixth grade after coming across it in the school's library. I was curious as to why a picture book was in the older kids' section and that curiosity lead me to check it out.
The other things I remember from back then are that I loved it and I was surprised about how long it took me to read it.

Now, six years later, I have the same book in my hands. The art is amazing, if dated. The angels are nontraditional; they come from ethnic backgrounds and wear multicolored patchwork clothing.

The story is simple and airy like the cake it's about. Not to mention sweet. The art really sells the book for me, but I love art. 5/5 stars still, six years later

[Amanda]

This is a really great picture book with wonderful illustrations. Angels and cake. Read it.

[Lauren Atkinson]

My all-time favorite children's book. ABSOLUTELY beautiful. My 3 year old has also fallen in love with it recently, I have read it so many times now that I've lost count. I still find beauty in it even after the 194...th time reading it. He has even started memorizing it and quoting whole sections of it during our downtime, which just makes me love this book all the more.

[Sasha]

Angels and angel food cake. Very a la Little Red Hen. Lovely egg tempura illustrations, though the scenes kind of shifted at times without enough exposition.

[Jo Cox]

Fun story. Beautiful artwork.

[Finn Gecas]

I will be trying this recipe

[Hilary]

Stunning illustrations. Important message.

[Abigail Daniels]

Love!!

[Marsha]

Mix whimsy with a daughter’s love, throw in a touch of the fantastical and add a smidgen of the supernatural and what do you get? A perfectly divine cake and a tender story about one girl’s magical attempts to fix her mother a very special birthday cake.

Having recalled Mr. Watson’s illustrations in One Wintry Night, it was an absolute delight to find them again here. This quietly moving story is enlivened with his vivid illustrations that swirl and leap off the page. Mr. Watson clearly knows what he’s doing. Bold colors are artfully juxtaposed with large white spaces; the effect is a subtle one that reinforces the values of words and pictures.

The little girl’s story about her efforts to fix this cake is actually one of modern family and old-fashioned tradition. The tale blends the recipes her great-grandmother collected (as well as articles of crime that contain a touch of the absurd) with mundane incidents of disastrous family visits and a surprising visit from a trio of greedy angels.

This is a sweet story (and not just because of the titular confection) and one that deserves to be read aloud. The included recipe for angel food dessert is the icing on the cake.

[Rachel Burke]

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky High Angel Food Cake is a picture book that has a recommended age range of grades 2-4. This book may not be well known but it is one that was read to both me and my sisters when we were young. It is about a young girl who asks her mother what she wants for her birthday, her mother tells her she wants this specific type of cake from her childhood. The little girl doesn’t know how to make it, but with a little help from some angels she makes it and her mother loves it. This book has very untraditional looking pictures. The story itself is appealing because it is out of the ordinary and off the wall. I gave this book the highest rating I could because it is so untraditional, but in its non-confirmative ways, it is a great and highly appealing story for the kids who read it. The book is really about finding things from the past and about a daughters love for her mother. She desperately wants to make her mother happy, and she does. But creating happiness for her parents is a great thing for a child to learn.

[Josephine]

The story's perhaps a bit flimsy, but that's only appropriate for a book about what is, after all, angel food cake; it's definitely an enjoyable confection of a book, airy as the real thing.

Definitely kudos for Richard Watson's including angels of different ethnicity in his illustrations, and one with (gasp) laugh lines at the corners of his eyes. (Willard's text doesn't specify that, only that one is big, one medium and one smallest.)

[Kat]

What a fun, fun book - I have such great memories reading this absolutely delightful book to my son over and over and over and then making cakes. My favorite part of the illustrations is that the illustrator made the angels of every color and their clothes -- technicolor brouhaha! Great fun, and my angels now look like this in my imagination.

[Lisbeth Solberg]

A simple idea, so beautifully done. I tried to lend this to the professor I had for Children's Literature at CSUF, but he said no--good thing, since books have a way of wandering off and not returning (you must never go down/ to the end of town/ if you don't go down with me!).

[Susan Pace-Koch]

A magic recipe for a magic cake! Three angels help create w dreamlike experience for a young girl who is trying to bake a Sky Pie Angel Food Cake. She was so afraid that she would fall asleep while the cake was cooking...did she?

[Wendy]

Nancy Willard is so brilliant! This captivating story centers on a young girl's desire to give her mother the perfect birthday present. The answer requires some cross generational magic spun throygh with love. This is exactly the kind of book I wish I could create!

[Sarah]

This is an older kids' picture book about a girl's attempt to bake a very special birthday cake for her mother. I remember being old enough to read the book on my own and proud of myself for reading all the big words.

[Marissa]

I need to borrow a kid so I can read this to them. It's a cute story, with engaging illustrations, though I'm utterly baffled why they'd choose to not include a picture of the cake they spend the entire book talking about.

[Dani]

One of my wife’s favorite books from childhood. I’d never read it and - wow - a truly magical story. Featuring a gender queer angel and a sweet family with amazing character details for a children’s book.

[MH]

wonderful read-aloud for 3-5 grades. At school, I would read it aloud around mother's day as it is about a young girl's love for her mother.

[Blair]

i loved this book. i want some pie-cake!!!!!!

[Maggie]

One of my favorite books given to me by my sister. About Angels' that love Angel Food Cake.

[Tikeren]

One of my favorite childhood books ever! I must have read this book every time I went to the school library. <3

[Cheryl]

wonderful illustrations add to the charming tale about the love of a child for her mother. I loved the part about her dad's snoring and the gifts.

[Diane]

I first bought this book for my granddaughter...then read it, and bought another copy for myself! The illustrations are beautiful, and make the book. The story is sweet as well. Enjoy!

[Betsy]

My first introduction to the amazing Nancy Willard, this book remains one of my favorites of hers. I love that the angels are so untraditional looking.