Review by Booklist Review
Ages 3-5. ``Dad says we are going to grow vegetable soup.'' To do that, an unseen father and child plant their seeds and sprouts, carefully tending them through the season until the harvest is ready to pick. They wash the vegetables, cut them up, and make them into ``the best soup ever.'' Bold graphics make this an eye-catcher. Illustrations are composed of simple, undelineated cutout shapes of pure, flat color. The palette is exceptionally bright: pink for a gloved hand; browns, golds, and oranges for the earth; chartreuse and other shades of green for the plants; and unexpected purple, pink, or orange backgrounds. The action is all at ground level; readers see only the garden tenders' hands. Meanwhile, a very large typeface explains what goes on in just a few sentences. Everything here is spare; nevertheless, the pictures make sure that the feeling of accomplishment in the endeavor won't be missed. A recipe for vegetable soup appears on the back cover flap in this reviewer's galley; one hopes the bound book will include the same somewhere within its pages. DMW. Vegetable gardening Fiction / Soups Fiction [CIP] 86-22812
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The title says everything the book contains. First, there is the idea, then the actual work: tools are employed for planting seeds that grow first into sprouts, then into plants and then vegetables. The process involves water, weeding, digging up and washing; finally, there is the reward of cooking the vegetables and, yes, eating the soupthe end of the chain, at least this year. The book provides a healthy dose of completely digestible information on growing and nurturing living things; it's also a zesty introduction to vivid, abstract art. Both Ehlert's illustrations and her basic instructions shed light and color on the simple pleasures of gardening. Ages 3-8. (March) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1 This is the boldest, brassiest garden book to hit the market, and what a delight. Intensely colored graphics capture the complete growing process from seed to cooking pot, with the focus on the plants. The unseen narrator describes the process of growing vegetable soup, from preparing the tools and digging holes for the seeds to weeding plants; picking vegetables; washing, chopping, and cooking themand finally enjoying the homemade soup while planning to grow more next year. It's a fresh presentation of the gardening cycle with a joyful conclusion, and the added attraction of an easy and tasty recipe for vegetable soup on the flyleaf. A book to help nourish healthy readers. Barbara Peklo Serling, Oneida City Schools, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A very simple text about planting and growing a vegetable garden is accompanied by psychedelically bright illustrations. A red watering can held by a magenta hand on a green ground a hot-orange spade against blue--these colors are painfully vivid, jumping around on the page to the point of diverting attention from any pattern or information conveyed. Information is minimal anyway--seeds are planted and grow in an unrealistic medley, and the forms are so generalized that they would be recognizable only to someone already familiar with the various plants. The book concludes with a portrait of a vegetable soup that doesn't look like something to eat (although the jacket flap provides a simple recipe a kindergarten class could make). A plausible notion for a book, shouted down by garish illustrations. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
