Petunia

Petunia #1

by Roger Duvoisin

Illus. in full color. A silly goose carries around a book she thinks will make her wise. "Full of amusing incidents and conversation. The pictures are spirited and gay."—Horn Book.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Humor, Classics, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Roger Antoine Duvoisin (August 28, 1900 – June 1980) was a Swiss-born American writer and illustrator, best known for children's picture books. He won the 1948 Caldecott Medal for picture books and in 1968 he was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's illustrators.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

so i am just finding out now that there are about a million other books about petunia, the silly goose!!!

i must must must have them. this was one of my first books, and remains one of my favorites.

basically, there's this goose and she figures that if she waddles around with a book under her wing, then all the other animals will assume she is smart, even though she doesn't really know what books are for, just that they are associated with wisdom. she's just using it as a smart-prop. deceitful goose!

and the other barnyard animals fall for it, the dummies!! they ask her advice and her opinions and every single time she gives her answers, someone gets hurt, either physically or emotionally, because she really has no idea what she's doing, the goose is just winging it.

but the unread book gives her confidence; she doesn't even realize the horror she leaves behind in her wake, and she becomes more and more proud. her errors in judgment escalate until kaboom!! i've made a huge mistake!! dogs with singed noses! terrified horses!

this is a terrifically scarring and violent book, one which made me everything i am today.

so come on, geese! read your books! and watch out for "candy!!" because i can always tell which of you people are just walking around with your books, and i am taking notes...

come to my blog!

[Karen Witzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased in 1967 from a Scholastic book flyer when I was in the second grade. The first book that I ever chose and bought myself. I love Duvoisin's illustrations.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Petunia, a rather silly goose, finds a book, she remembers overhearing Mr. Pumpkin say, "He who owns Books and loves them is wise." In her tiny brain, the connection is made - book = wisdom, so she shares her newfound "smarts" with all her barnyard friends . . . and promptly causes a whole lotta chaos.



I somehow missed out on this classic growing up, though I did manage to learn, even without Duvoisin's help, that reading books is much more important than owning them.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent humorous story for little ones about pride going before a fall. Pictures a bit too sketchy in this edition.

[Miss Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first children's Christian book I've ever gotten.
In a charming tale set in a farmyard, Petunia the silly goose believes she has become wise just because she finds a book. All farm animals saw her carrying the book believed in her wisdom and seek her advice, and suffered horrible consequences from her unwise counsel, until she told everyone to open a box labeled "Candy" but instead, it was firecrackers and everyone got hurt.
At the end she realized:"Now I understand. It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing. I must put it in my mind and in my heart. And to do that I must learn to read."
Silly goose! She had thought that merely holding a book provides wisdom. Silly animals! They thought that she had become wise because she had the appearance of wisdom. Silly us! How often do we make the same mistakes? We assume that those in academia, government, medicine, and the press have wisdom that we do not possess. Much like the goose and animals assumed that holding the book gave the goose wisdom, many assume that holding a position or a credential is the same as wisdom.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Month of January 2022: Young Reader’s Classics

AR POINTS: .5 READING LEVEL: 3.1

A super cute children’s book written and published in 1950. This is 1 of 4 books in with my cousin’s (Lancer Woolwine) family photos, which I am currently organizing for their family. So, needless to say, this book stays with the family.

It’s about a goose, Petunia, who finds a book and believes that by simply carrying it around will make her appear to be the smartest animal on the farm. Her neck gets longer and higher as the other animals begin to believe it as well. They ask Petunia's help for various problems that don’t end well. The worst disaster was when Petunia misread a box labeled dynamite, and because she really didn’t know how to read, she told them it was CANDY.

Cute! Teaches the importance of learning to read.

[Dna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still a great book! I was obsessed with the copy in my school library and would sneak in on my way to and from the bathroom to look at it.

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Petunia” is the first book created by Roger Duvoisin from the “Petunia” series. In this adventure, Petunia mistakenly thinks that she is a wise animal when she stumbles upon a book lying on the ground and she how tries to give the other animals uncanny advice about their problems. “Petunia” is an excellent book about the importance of true wisdom that young children will enjoy for many years.

Roger Duvoisin has done an excellent job with both the illustrations and the writing for this story. Roger Duvoisin’s illustrations are highly creative as he makes some of the pages in the book colored while other pages are in black and white. Also, I love the way the animals look in this book as they are drawn in a simplistic way since they are drawn in a sort of scratchy way. Roger Duvoisin’s writing is hilarious and dramatic at the same time as he details the story of how Petunia tries to help all the farm animals, but ends up making all the other animals miserable as they go through painful trials from Petunia’s advice. I love the way that Roger Duvoisin uses the concept of true knowledge by letting the readers know that true knowledge comes from reading the book, not carrying it around with you just to make people think that you are smart.

“Petunia” is a great story for children who want to learn about what true knowledge is all about and also a great tale about how it is important to not jump to conclusions without knowing the full story first. I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since some of the violent scenes might be too much for smaller children to handle.

From my Epinions Review:
http://www0.epinions.com/review/Book_...

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book provides perfect opportunities to interact with a child while reading. Every time Petunia encounters a problem, the kids suggest possible solutions and then we read what Petunia has to say. Before seeing the result, the kids choose which solution they think would work the best.

And, of course, I love the reference to 'wisdom.' I wish that wisdom would once again be something we, as a society, value.

(I wonder why we -- my brothers and sister -- didn't read this as children. Maybe we didn't want to read about a duck/goose?)

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

All three little kids have read this repeatedly, Catherine especially. They love how her neck gets bigger and how she thought she would be wise if she carried the book and loved it, but she was silly about things. She couldn’t count very well so she wasn’t helpful to Ida the chicken. She couldn’t read well so she ended up making n explosion. It has quickly become a favorite since bringing it home from the library.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Now I understand. It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing. I must put it in my mind and in my heart. And to do that I must learn to read.” -Petunia (by Roger Duvoisin).

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Petunia finds a book and carries it around with her, thinking that she is suddenly wiser than everyone else in the farmyard, with disastrous results.

She discovers that "It was not enough to carry wisdom under my wing. I must put it in my mind and in my heart. And to do that I must learn to read."

Overall, it's a funny story and a good encouragement for children to learn to read.

July 2019 update: I had the opportunity to visit with a friend and check out a few boxes of children's books she had kept from her childhood and her son's. The books are quite old and many are out of print, so it was a wonderful chance to revisit with some stories I read when I was young and to discover others I'd never seen before. I really enjoyed rereading this book.

[Kara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The overall concept of this book is that books equal knowledge, and not understanding a book can lead to catastrophe. This is a little extreme for children books I feel and might even scare young readers. Since the pictures are still from the 1950's, they are simple and cartoon like, which might not be appealing to all kids as the backgrounds are covered in pure whiteness. The advice Petunia gives is creative, but when the animals start getting injured and the truth is not being told, the book becomes a turn off to the readers, and the resolution comes too late to rectify or save the book.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book for preachers I've ever read.

[Julianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed for THC Reviews
Petunia is the first book in Roger Duvoisin’s children’s book series of the same name. Petunia is a goose who lives on a farm. One day, while strolling in the meadow she comes upon a book. She recalls seeing the farm boy taking one to school and his father telling him that anyone who owns and loves books is wise, so she carries it around, becoming more and more puffed up with pride, while believing that she’s clever. All the farm animals come to her for advice, but the “wisdom” she dispenses is highly questionable. When her errors in judgment get her and all the other farm animals hurt and in trouble, the silly goose finally realizes that it’s the words inside the book that make it special and not just possessing it, setting her on a path to true wisdom.

Petunia is a classic children’s picture book first published in the 1950s. Although I can’t recall for certain, I may have read it during my own childhood, but whether I did or not, it turned out to be an enjoyable book to (re)discover in adulthood. Petunia is a very silly goose indeed, who lets her pride over owning a book get in the way of seeing the truth that real wisdom comes from learning how to read it. The advice she gives her farm friends is laced with humorous situations, but it’s not until everyone gets hurt that she realizes her own folly. The book presents a great cautionary tale for kids on not becoming too confident in your own knowledge but instead that becoming a life-long learner is the actual path to gaining wisdom. I love that the story teaches a lesson in critical thinking to youngsters but it’s done so in a lighthearted way. The illustrations are indicative of the time period in which the book was first published and alternate between simple black and white line drawings and ones that have splashes of bright color. They all complement the text well. Overall, this was a wonderful book that will be placed on my keeper shelf for the grandkids, and even though it looks like many of the other books in the series may be hard to come by, due to being out of print, I hope to find and read more of them.

[PATRICK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one with my boyfriend. Basically, what we have here is an arrogant duck who think she's educated just because she has a book (/college degree/) under her wing. Even though she think she's educated, she could not really help people in any real way so really her book (/college degree/) was more ornamental than utilitarian.

The contrast between the black and white, and the colored pages to make a spoiler alert explosion of colors at the end was a very nicely added detail. Anyway, fantastic book!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older picture book that I wasn’t familiar with. A “silly goose” finds a book, believes carrying it around will make her wise, and learns a valuable lesson after wreaking havoc among her barnyard friends. The drawings are charming and colorful without looking dated.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard good things about the Petunia series and wasn't disappointed. It's a very cute story, with a wise moral. And a happy ending for all of us bibliophiles!

[Shelle Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

My earliest childhood memories center around two books that my mother would read to me. Petunia with head in the clouds and her foot in her mouth was always a favorite story to hear. Even a three old knew that it couldn't turn out well. Such joyous memories!

[Chrisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly little fable.

[Ronda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed a filler for today due to some unforeseen scheduling changes and ran across the Scholastic iconographic DVD version of this story read by Peter Gwynne. Had forgotten all about it until seeing the cover and remembered that I had liked it as a child. I showed the book using my ActiveBoard and with subtitles on so that the students could follow along. For my 1st and 2nd graders, I used it as a tie-in to picking out "just right" books to help them grow their reading muscles. Petunia thought that just carrying a book around made her wise, just as many students check out books they aren't ready to read, adding to their frustration and reenforcing their perception that they are simply bad at reading--when it's more that they're trying to bench press 200 lbs. without building up to it. For my 3-5 grades, I wondered if they would just turn off--thinking it was a "baby book" (hate it when they say that!), but even my 5th graders seemed to enjoy the story--with 4th ad 5th really getting the humor that seemed to go over the heads of some of my younglings.

As for library lessons with my older students, Petunia offered a good opportunity to explore the concept of main idea as the lesson a character learns in a story and how main idea can vary with our own unique perspectives. (Yes, I have a problem with the standardized test questions about main idea--all too often--I don't agree with any of the choices offered.) I'm wondering how many of them I may have confused by introducing them to the idea that none of us ever reads the same book. Critical thinking in action!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS Petunia is always known as a silly goose, but one day she finds a book and remembers that she has seen the children of the farm with them under their arms on their way to and from school. She knows that books hold wisdom and so she decides to carry around the book under her wing so she can become wise. Of course, she doesn't gain a single bit of wisdom in that way, just a lot of pomposity, but the other animals are very impressed--until she starts to give them horrible advice. Of course, it all works out in the end and I kind of loved the beginning and end of this book, but I really wish that situations involving the other farm animals weren't so painful and, in some cases, a bit violent (such as Petunia saying she will need to pull out all the horses' teeth to fix his toothache since she doesn't have any teeth and never gets a toothache--it's all quite droll but when the poor horse runs off in terror and keeps his teeth, and his toothache, I just felt sorry instead of amused.) Otherwise, though, it's a wonderful cautionary tale and full of "wisdom" for its readers.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a child who's acting a little hesitant about learning to read, this book might do the trick! As Petunia learns, it's not enough just *having* a book, real knowledge comes from learning to read and discovering what books say. It's also a good lesson about pride and the consequences it can have on you and your friends.

Ages 3+

Cleanliness: a hen says "Good gracious."

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[Mekeisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book written in 1950 for children. You could use this to teach so many things! Petunia is a duck who thinks she is wise because she found a book and carries it everywhere. She does not know how to read, but a friend once told her "He who owns books and loves them is wise." Other barn friends begin seeking her advice, until one day Petunia's pride puts her friends in danger.... great read, with lots of truths to be extracted!

[Yasmin Allithy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So lovely and funny story which have a good morality . The pictures are lovely❤️. I think this story will stuck to my mind for so long . I know many people do like Petunia pretending to be wise and make a huge libraries without reading them to show knowledge. I wish everyone to realize their mistakes as Petunia did

[Geta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like most books for children. Just the joy of reading them to my kids is enough. This book though will also make any adult laugh and think " how did anyone came up with this idea ?"( the book is over 50 years old , so from the Oldies but goldie's category).

[Gina House · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wise book with really charming illustrations and a nice message about reading. Poor Petunia and her friends! At least she figures things out in the end. It’s hard not to smile while reading this little tale.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do have to buy this sometime. I was given this as a young girl and I think it really affected me at the time. The story is about the problems with pride.

[Susanne May Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book to Henry tonight. What a depressing book. Petunia leads the barnyard to ruin. Great. Now sweat dreams Henry.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

2010: My son and I really enjoyed this book. He liked the page where the firecrackers blow up. I love the illustrations, and also that it's about the value of books and the source of real knowledge.