Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Reviewed by Margo Dill, www.margodill.com, margodll@aol.com

photo by Shelley Ginger www.flickr.com

Picture book for prekindergarteners through second graders
Duck, Cat, and Squirrel as main characters
Rating: Wonderfully cute illustrations with a story that kids will really relate to.

Short, short summary: Duck, Cat, and Squirrel live happily together, each with their own job when it comes to making their famous, yummy pumpkin soup. But one day, Duck wants to do more than just pour the salt in. He wants to stir. Cat and Squirrel do not like this at all, and they get in a huge fight, ending with Duck walking out. Duck is gone longer than Cat and Squirrel like, and they start to miss him. They look for him everywhere and imagine all sorts of horrible animals being after him. When Cat and Squirrel no longer know where to look, they go home, and there’s Duck! Duck convinces them to let him stir and play the bagpipes! Uh-oh!

So, what do I do with this book?

1. Many of your students or your children will feel like Duck in this book. They want to do a “bigger” job or a “different” job, but you don’t want them to because they will make a mess or not do it right. Ask students if they have ever felt like Duck. Ask them to share their experiences. How else could Cat, Duck, and Squirrel have solved their problem besides fighting? Ask students how they have tried to solve their problems–wanting to do activities or tasks that their parents or friends don’t want them to. Depending on the age of your students, ask them to draw pictures or write a paragraph about their experiences and feelings.

2. This is a great book for practicting the reading skill–sequencing. Before Duck messes up the perfect order, the three friends do everything in the same sequence. First ask students to tell you the friends’ order, and you write this down on chart paper. Then cut the chart paper into sentence strips, and pass the strips out to your students. Try to put the story back in the correct sequence on the chalkboard with the sentence strips. You can use the book to “help you check” your students’ sequencing.

3. This kind of book is always fun to do in the fall, especially since many schools no longer allow Halloween parties. Instead you may have Fall Festivals. Add this book to your Fall Festival collection. If you want to do some cooking with your kids in the classroom or at home with your children, to go along with this book, here is a link to some Pumpkin Soup Recipes.

If you have used this book with your students or your child, please leave a comment here and tell us what you did!