Summarizer:  Make A Wish Molly

By Barbara Cohen     Illustrated by Jan Naimo Jones

Pages 4-20

 

Summary:

 

            Molly is a little girl from Russia and does not know anything about American birthdays.  In Russia they did not celebrate birthdays, so what I read for the first section last night was all about Molly finding about and attending her first birthday party.  Molly had a friend named Emma and Emma had a friend named Elizabeth.  Elizabeth and Molly were not friends even though Molly tried to be as nice as she could.  Elizabeth was always putting her down and making fun of her.  One day the three girls walked from school together downtown.  In the bakery window Molly saw the most beautiful cake she had ever seen.  It had pink icing with red roses, green leaves, and white curlicues on the top of it said Happy Birthday Agnes.  Molly thought Agnes must be the luckiest person in the world.  Elizabeth was nonchalant and could not believe she was so fascinated by a cake.  Emma went on to explain to Molly all about American birthday parties.  She made sure to include the gifts, food, games, and of course the invitations.  Molly was so excited that she could not wait until her first American birthday party so she could do all of those wonderful things Emma was talking about.  The day finally came when Emma got her invitation in the mail and was bouncing off the walls telling her mother all about American birthday parties.  Her mother did not really did really understand the whole idea but was happy to see her little girl so excited about something.  Molly had a real surprise coming however, her grandparents were coming to visit and Molly was sure she could not attend the party.  Her mother assured her she could attend, but she could not eat because of the celebration of Passover.  What Molly thought, no cake and ice cream?  This was horrible.  Maybe She could just sneak some and not tell her family no one would ever have known, right?  The day of Emma’s party arrives and Molly sets off for Emma’s house.  The girls play games, laugh, and then comes a cake, just like the one in the store window, but this one said happy birthday Emma on it.  They all sung happy birthday, a song that Molly had not heard before, but soon joined in and then they begin to eat.  

 

 

Key Points:

 

1. Molly did not know anything about birthday parties.
2. Emma and Elizabeth told Molly about them.
3. Emma invited Molly to her birthday party.
4. Molly could not eat anything containing yeast like substance, because of Passover.
5. Molly attends the party and plays the games.
6. The beautiful cake, like the one in the store window, arrives and they began to sing Happy Birthday to Emma.