Eric Cakebread Toy Poodle was top of the class at school but he also always helped other children when they didn’t understand something. Whenever his sister Melinda saw what he did she always wished that she could help others too. But, Melinda was very shy and was afraid to speak in front of everyone.
“I wish I was more like Eric”, she thought.

“You’re very good at teaching people things,”,
said Freya Chocolate Rabbit one day.
“I like to learn too”, replied Eric,
“Why don’t you all teach me something?”.
“Let’s play school then”,
said Ralph Walnut Squirrel,
“we can all teach the things were are best at”.
“I’ll teach a lesson about flowers”,
said Freya Chocolate Rabbit.
“I can be the tree climbing teacher”,
laughed Ralph.

But poor Melinda couldn’t think of anything to teach at all. She asked her mother for ideas.
“You’ve been practicing baking cakes, why don’t you teach that?”
said Melinda’s mother.
“I can’t bake a cake on my own yet” said Melinda.
“Yes, you can make a beautiful cake”
said her mother.

Melinda thought about that for a while trying to decide what kind of cake she should make. At last she had an idea. The day had arrived when it was Melinda’s turn to teach the children. First thing her mother and herself went out to buy ingredients and on the way home pick wild strawberries in the local forest. When they got home Melinda began to prepare the ingredients in the bowl for cooking.

All of a sudden Melinda could hear the children at the front door.
“Good afternoon Ms Cakebread”
they all said.
When the children arrived they could smell something delicious. Once in the house they went down to the kitchen where a big stacks of pancakes freshly made sat on the table surrounded by fruit, chocolate, cream and nuts.

“Good morning class, today you will learn how to make pancake toppings, we are doing this because I can’t bake on my own yet but I am good at making pancakes”
said Melinda.
“Oooooh, they look so yummy”,
said Saffron Walnut Squirrel.
“I can’t wait to try this” said Freya.

The other children listened eagerly as Melinda taught them how to arrange the toppings so they would look lovely and taste even better. Freya put the wild strawberries that Melinda and her mother has picked earlier in the day on her pancakes together with cream. Saffron put the apples and chocolate on.
“This was so much fun”,
said Tiffany Silk Cat.
“Thank you for teaching us this Melinda”,
said Freya.
“Can you teach us how to bake when you are able to”?
asked Saffron.
“Of course”!
said Melinda, she was very happy and at last she had taught something of her own.

THE END