The Giant Cabbage: An Alaska Folktale
PreSchool-Grade 2-Another twist on the familiar Russian folktale, "The Turnip." Moose's giant cabbage is a shoo-in for a prize at the fair, but he can't budge it on his own. A parade of animals drops by to help, including a bear, wolf, fox, hare, porcupine, squirrel, and vole. By working together, they finally load the enormous vegetable into Moose's truck and ride off to the fair, where the cabbage takes first prize. The friends return home to celebrate and cook up a giant pot of cabbage soup. There is no shortage of recent "Turnip" variations that make excellent read-alouds. Aubrey Davis's The Enormous Potato (Kids Can, 1997) and Jan Peck's The Giant Carrot (Dial, 1998) are two examples. This title, while also highly readable, makes its contribution to the field through its depiction of Alaskan wildlife. At story's end, Stihler includes source notes, information about Alaskan vegetables (the "midnight sun" allows them to grow to record size), and a recipe for Moose's cabbage soup. Trammell's cheerful, paint-and-pen artwork sets a cast of friendly looking animals in a verdant landscape. Alternating spot and full-spread illustrations add to the dramatic effect, and the repeated words "big," "huge," and "GIANT" are printed in successively larger typefaces. The text is a bit long, however, and the bulk of it appears in rather small print. Still, this enjoyable title is a solid addition.Eve Ortega, Cypress Library, CACopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.