goldjay's Full Review: Lois Ehlert - Growing Vegetable Soup
Growing Vegetable Soup is a children’s book written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. I have a copy that I purchased from a Scholastic book order form for 99 cents. I love when Scholastic runs deals for 99 cent books and I always make sure to purchase these copies as they are always worth the dollar! This book is truly no exception. This book was copywritten in 1987.
This is a book that I’ve read in preschool classrooms before I had my own children and then I’ve read it to both of my own children as well. I like it because not only is it a good story but it is something that children can do the same thing as they’ve read in the story. In this case, I’ve planted vegetables and made vegetable soup with both classes and with my own children. To be honest, I did not grow every vegetable that went into my soup but I did grow some and purchased some at the store but nonetheless, the end result was that we grew vegetables and we made soup, just like in the story!
The Story
The story starts off, “Dad says we are going to grow vegetable soup.” This page is simply the words on dark blue background with no pictures.
Turning the page, we then see the tools needed to plant a garden. And, then the seeds are planted. Seeds are watered and tended to. The sun shines to help them grow.
Soon, the vegetables are ready to pick or dig up. They are taken home and washed and cut up and put in a pot of water.. They are cooked into vegetable soup!
Text and illustrations
The text in this very simple book is easy to read. The book is written in very large black print and there are only a few words per page. The book is 32 pages long and each page has no more than 10 words on it. Nonetheless, the words do tell a detailed story of how to grow the vegetables and make the soup.
In addition to the text of the story, there are small labels within the illustrations of this book. For example, on the tools page, there are three tools and each is labeled, “shovel,” “hoe,” and “rake.” In addition, the actual plants, and vegetables are labeled with the name of the vegetable so that you can identify which plant you are looking at. It is very helpful to me to know and be able to tell children, which vegetable plant they are looking at. As the vegetables grow, it becomes more obvious, but still it helps to know which is which from the start.
The illustrations are big and colorful. Each of the pages has a colorful background in blue, green, yellow, orange, red, or purple. The vegetables are all realistic colors and the plants even resemble the plants that they are supposed to be. The garden is really the whole page in most of the illustrations and the vegetables are big and bright.
We never see a person in this book, but we see their hands working in the garden and holding the tools. We see the vegetables in detail and close up. Even when the vegetables are being cut up, we see each vegetable cut into pieces.
My experiences
The children I have read this book to have always enjoyed it. The colorful pictures have drawn them in and then the simple subject has kept them interested. They have especially enjoyed it knowing that they could do the same thing and grow and make their own vegetable soups. That has always been a big hit and something my 8 year old daughter still enjoys doing to this day even though she has out grown this book.
I am also excited to note her that my children will eat vegetables in the vegetable soup that they may not have otherwise have eaten. I have found that both of my children will eat most of everything that is put into soup. Maybe it’s the flavors melded together that makes everything so great but whatever the reason, I am all for eating more vegetables. If this book encourages that, then it is way high up on my list of really good books!
Extras
At the end of this book, on the very last page, you will find a bonus! There is a recipe for making vegetable soup! The recipe is written in three simple steps:
1. Wash and cut
2. Get ready
3. Cook
Under each step it tells what vegetables to wash, what other ingredients you will need to add and then how to cook the soup. I have followed this recipe more or less and it makes some good soup. I also have several other recipes for vegetable soup that my family enjoys but making the soup that is right in the book was exciting for my daughter and since we all enjoyed it, it is something we do as often as we can, even if we don’t actually grow all of the vegetables, especially in the winter time!
Recommendations
This book is simple enough to read to a toddler but interesting enough to be read to a kindergartener or even first grader. I think it is especially good with a follow up activity though the book is a great stand alone book as well. Both of my kids love vegetable soup and both have enjoyed helping to grow some vegetables and putting them into the pot. My daughter has even helped to wash and cut and my son will do this eventually. We make vegetable soup a lot at our house and this book is a great way to help children understand what you are going to do and how you are going to do it. I highly recommend this book!
In brightly-colored collage illustrations, a father and child share the simple joys of planting, watering, and watching seeds grow in their garden. Th...More at HotBookSale
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 f...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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