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Rainbow Stew
Splish, splash, puddle dash! It s a rainy summer day, but the vegetables in Grandpa s garden are just waiting to be picked. Yellow peppers, purple cabbage, red tomatoes, green zucchini, orange carrots, and more. So many colors! So many delicious ingredients to slice, chop, peel, and dice for a great big pot of mouthwatering Rainbow Stew. Yum!"
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2013
156 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
April 27, 2019
Lovely book about fun things to do on a rainy day! The children in the story are not sure what to do stuck inside - until their grandfather has them suit up for the rain and embrace it! I love the simple notion of family and togetherness in this book, and the rhyming words give it a lot of energy and joy. The "garden to table" aspect is a nice way of incorporating how even very young children can engage with our planet in positive ways. Skill-wise, the book discusses all of the colors of the rainbow when it comes to different types of vegetables, so it can definitely be used for learning colors or veggie names. I especially appreciate the rainy setting; while it probably would have been just as easy to create a family-garden-cooking story that takes place on a sunny day, the embrace of all seasons and weather as just as enjoyable and giving of opportunity really drives it home for me. Very dynamic, fun, and loving.
September 9, 2020
Three children look forward to playing outside with their grandfather, unfortunately, it begins raining. The children are disappointed, but grandpa has a plan for Rainbow Stew. The children join grandpa in the garden to find vegetables of all colors. With onomatopoeia, rhyming words, & colorful illustrations Cathryn Falwell delivers an engaging and educational story of family fun!
Teaching points: rhyming words, onomatopoeia, sequencing, POC
Suggested grade level: 1-2
Location: LES library
Related reads:
Right This Very Minute by Lisl H. Detlefsen (LES library)
Stone Soup by various authors (find at NC Kids Digital Library via Libby app & Epic!)
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert (find on Epic! - audiobook)
Teaching points: rhyming words, onomatopoeia, sequencing, POC
Suggested grade level: 1-2
Location: LES library
Related reads:
Right This Very Minute by Lisl H. Detlefsen (LES library)
Stone Soup by various authors (find at NC Kids Digital Library via Libby app & Epic!)
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert (find on Epic! - audiobook)
November 29, 2017
This book has a cute rhyming story, bright and fun illustrations and children having a lot of fun with their grandfather! I don't recall many books where it is only the grandfather, and in this one he has a garden he loves and they are cooking together.
As a bonus (to me), the family isn't white. I love great stories where the characters aren't exactly like us - I don't point it out specifically to my daughter but I am sure she notices.
Read this with a 6yr old. Would probably have bought the book if I had found it when she was younger (as it is I only grabbed it in passing at the library...so glad I did!).
As a bonus (to me), the family isn't white. I love great stories where the characters aren't exactly like us - I don't point it out specifically to my daughter but I am sure she notices.
Read this with a 6yr old. Would probably have bought the book if I had found it when she was younger (as it is I only grabbed it in passing at the library...so glad I did!).
September 6, 2019
Beautiful cut-paper illustrations depict three black grandkids visiting their grandpa, who shows them how to have a fun time in the garden and make a delicious stew from home-grown vegetables even though it's raining outside. Well-written, rhyming text full of rich language, and a recipe for Rainbow Stew at the end.
Themes: Food/Ingredients, Garden/Plants, Colors, Family/Grandparents, Weather
Themes: Food/Ingredients, Garden/Plants, Colors, Family/Grandparents, Weather
December 10, 2023
I liked this book because it was a picture book of rhyming poems. Almost every other ending word in a sentence rhymed with the previous one. I also liked how colorful this book was. I expected it to be because it is entitled Rainbow Stew but I really liked how the words on the pages were also the color of the rainbow.
March 22, 2018
Love so much about this book. Gardening, diverse characters, kids playing in the mud, spending time with their grandpa, yummy food from homegrown veggies. I thoroughly enjoy Cathryn Falwell's books.
November 13, 2019
This book features an African American grandfather leading his grandchildren through the garden on a rainy day to gather a rainbow of vegetables to be made into soup. A recipe is included at the end. I love Cathryn Falwell's illustrations and the positive family interactions in her books.
December 20, 2021
A bit like some other books we read about making soups from garden vegetables, this one had a bit more of a narrative than "Every Color Soup" and was more melodic than "Talia and the Rude Vegetables."
October 5, 2023
Bonus star for the recipe, esp. because it's more a template. Whatever colorful veggies you have, whichever herbs you have, whatever protein and/or carb you want to add, it's all good!
Highly recommended for families who want to enjoy sharing healthful foods.
Highly recommended for families who want to enjoy sharing healthful foods.
June 12, 2024
Great storytime book. Good pace and rhyming, easy connection with other themes like colors, grandparents, fruits and vegetables, gardening, cooking, dealing with the disappointment of a rainy day, etc.
September 16, 2017
A grandfather and his grandchildren gather vegetables from the garden on a rainy day and cook "rainbow stew".
October 10, 2019
A book that teaches a lot of vegetables and colors without being so basic.
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November 15, 2019Nice cozy little story that would be great to read before making a pot of stew.
January 20, 2020
Good rhyming and African-Americans, plus intergenerational.
March 8, 2021
This book is relatable for students on a rainy day, but also teaches colors and healthy eating choices!
October 2, 2021
An incredibly sweet and wholesome picture book about siblings who spend a rainy day at Grandpa’s house, picking veggies from his garden for their favorite stew.
* library book. Read at 2 years old
* library book. Read at 2 years old
August 9, 2024
The rhyming wasn’t my favorite, but I did enjoy the illustrations and the plot.
November 30, 2022
BEAUTIFUL illustrations! Great rhymes with sounds to emphasize.
Family, diversity, gardening, helping.
Family, diversity, gardening, helping.
February 23, 2020
I remember being read this book when I was a student, and I enjoyed it very much. It taught us about colors and vegetables, and it was very easy to interact with. This book is written in a poetry style and is fun, playful, and a perfect book for storytime any day!
"We jump around like grasshoppers-
and buzz around like bees.
We creep along like ladybugs,
and all get muddy knees."
"We jump around like grasshoppers-
and buzz around like bees.
We creep along like ladybugs,
and all get muddy knees."
February 26, 2015
Rainbow Stew would be a good book for 5-7 year olds. This story is about three grandchildren visiting their grandpa. They always love to play and run around outside when they visit but unfortunately its raining. But, grandpa says its a great day to make some rainbow stew! Grandpa and the kids go into the garden and pick out all different kinds of vegetables. Going though the garden they sort the vegetables out by different colors and gather vegetables such as yellow peppers, purple cabbage heads, rosy radishes, red tomatoes, etc. Children can connect with this story if they have ever eaten these vegetables, picked these vegetables, and can learn about them if they have never heard of them before. After picking them all they finally help make the stew. I think this was a good book in order to show children they can help get the ingredients for their own meals as well as help prepare them as well. Children can see how tasty their hard work is as well.
This would be a good read aloud for students to learn their colors. As a teacher I could assign the students different colors and the students could come up and read the colored section they are assigned. This also is a great book to read to students about eating different kinds of vegetables. This could be a great book to read at school with students or for parents to read at home to their own children as well. At the end of the book there is also an entire recipe for rainbow stew. As a teacher if I had the resources we could make it as a class with students bringing in certain colored vegetables or I could make a copy of the recipe for each student to take home and to make it at home with their families. We could come back together as a class and discuss how much they liked it and if their family helped them and liked it as well.
This would be a good read aloud for students to learn their colors. As a teacher I could assign the students different colors and the students could come up and read the colored section they are assigned. This also is a great book to read to students about eating different kinds of vegetables. This could be a great book to read at school with students or for parents to read at home to their own children as well. At the end of the book there is also an entire recipe for rainbow stew. As a teacher if I had the resources we could make it as a class with students bringing in certain colored vegetables or I could make a copy of the recipe for each student to take home and to make it at home with their families. We could come back together as a class and discuss how much they liked it and if their family helped them and liked it as well.
May 7, 2013
Three children scramble out of bed at their grandpa’s house to a rainy day. But they don’t want to stay inside, so Grandpa sends them outside to find colors to add to his Rainbow Stew. They splash their way into the garden and look under the wet green leaves to find what colors are hidden beneath. They find all sorts of green vegetables like beans, spinach, and cucumbers, some rosy radishes, some purple cabbage, yellow peppers, red tomatoes and brown potatoes. Soon their basket is full and the three children are muddy and happy. They all head inside to cook the stew together, each child helping in their own way. Then there is quiet time inside as the stew cooks, until finally they can all enjoy Rainbow Stew!
Falwell merrily combines a love of gardening and a willingness to get muddy in this book. She uses quick rhymes that add a bouncy feel to the book, maintaining that sense of joy that is everywhere in this book. I am particularly pleased to see a book with a grandfather taking expert care of grandchildren in this book.
The illustrations are filled with falling rain, but also small faces turned up into it and knees plunked down into the mud. The completely African-American family is also great to see in a picture book that easily integrates into rain or gardening or color units and story times.
Ripe and ready to be picked, this is a great choice for sharing aloud in spring or fall. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Falwell merrily combines a love of gardening and a willingness to get muddy in this book. She uses quick rhymes that add a bouncy feel to the book, maintaining that sense of joy that is everywhere in this book. I am particularly pleased to see a book with a grandfather taking expert care of grandchildren in this book.
The illustrations are filled with falling rain, but also small faces turned up into it and knees plunked down into the mud. The completely African-American family is also great to see in a picture book that easily integrates into rain or gardening or color units and story times.
Ripe and ready to be picked, this is a great choice for sharing aloud in spring or fall. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
November 7, 2013
Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell is a wonderful picturebook about three children who's visit with their grandfather is almost ruined by the weather. However, despite the wet, rainy day the family spends the day picking a variety of vegetables from the garden and making rainbow stew. The combination of great use of colors and words makes this a great story to share.
Rainbow Stew not only shows the variety of great colors we might find in the garden, or produce isle for those with less than green thumbs, but also that a family can have fun together regardless of the weather they face. Picking vegetables in the rain might not sound like fun, but if approached the right way, with the right people, anything can become fun. I really liked that after the vegetables are picked, the family works together to prepare the stew, and then sits down to read books as they wait for the stew to cook. This made the day seem that much more fun and homey to me. I would not have minded spending some of my recent wet weather with this family and enjoying that kind of day.
Rainbow Stew is a great book to share with a family that enjoys the outdoors, gardening, and/or cooking. It is also good for families in general, and to start a discussion about family, healthy eating, cooking, and gardening.
Rainbow Stew not only shows the variety of great colors we might find in the garden, or produce isle for those with less than green thumbs, but also that a family can have fun together regardless of the weather they face. Picking vegetables in the rain might not sound like fun, but if approached the right way, with the right people, anything can become fun. I really liked that after the vegetables are picked, the family works together to prepare the stew, and then sits down to read books as they wait for the stew to cook. This made the day seem that much more fun and homey to me. I would not have minded spending some of my recent wet weather with this family and enjoying that kind of day.
Rainbow Stew is a great book to share with a family that enjoys the outdoors, gardening, and/or cooking. It is also good for families in general, and to start a discussion about family, healthy eating, cooking, and gardening.
July 29, 2016
Cathryn Falwell, Rainbow Stew (Lee and Low, 2013)
It's kind of depressing that we live in a culture where someone needs to write a book like this—where we are so divorced from the idea of gathering fresh food, preparing it straight from the land, and then eating it right out of the pot is alien enough that someone felt the need to illustrate it to a generation of children (and, let's be honest, a generation of parents) who are used to vegetables in cans or freezer bags and meat in styrofoam trays. (Don't worry, I'm not implying grandpa processes a cow or anything in this book.) But on the other hand, if someone had to do it, Cathryn Falwell was the right author. Rainbow Stew's story is simple and simply told, with very little embellishment; grandpa gently guides the children through the process of harvesting vegetables (in the rain, so there's the added fun of playing in the mud), preparing them (OH NOES, CHILDREN WITH PEELERS!), cooking them, and enjoying the result. Falwell includes a rudimentary recipe, but you may know Rainbow Stew as Kitchen Sink Casserole, or by any number of other names; it's one of those dishes where you take whatever you have on hand, toss it in a pot, and let it go. The stew looks delicious, and the book is as well. ****
It's kind of depressing that we live in a culture where someone needs to write a book like this—where we are so divorced from the idea of gathering fresh food, preparing it straight from the land, and then eating it right out of the pot is alien enough that someone felt the need to illustrate it to a generation of children (and, let's be honest, a generation of parents) who are used to vegetables in cans or freezer bags and meat in styrofoam trays. (Don't worry, I'm not implying grandpa processes a cow or anything in this book.) But on the other hand, if someone had to do it, Cathryn Falwell was the right author. Rainbow Stew's story is simple and simply told, with very little embellishment; grandpa gently guides the children through the process of harvesting vegetables (in the rain, so there's the added fun of playing in the mud), preparing them (OH NOES, CHILDREN WITH PEELERS!), cooking them, and enjoying the result. Falwell includes a rudimentary recipe, but you may know Rainbow Stew as Kitchen Sink Casserole, or by any number of other names; it's one of those dishes where you take whatever you have on hand, toss it in a pot, and let it go. The stew looks delicious, and the book is as well. ****
June 7, 2014
Our family in Rainbow Stew do not get the day that they planned. Because of some storms, they have to change their plans and find their own rainbow of color. How is this family different from the family in Journey? Can you find some other family fun things they can do without being electronically connected? Where is another place you can find a rainbow if you do not have a garden?
Opening Moves: Raise a question about setting, foreshadow the problem of the story, and invite personal connections.
Comparing this book to our other books, we will look at how this family reacts to color and their use of being together. They find color as they garden and make their stew. Also appreciated was the time they spent together reading while the stew cooked! Are there other ways that they can feel connected to people in their lives? How is cooking a community activity? Students may find connections with relatives who want them to be outside and read, looking for imagination building instead of always being electronically connected.
27 Feb. 2013. Kirkus Review
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Opening Moves: Raise a question about setting, foreshadow the problem of the story, and invite personal connections.
Comparing this book to our other books, we will look at how this family reacts to color and their use of being together. They find color as they garden and make their stew. Also appreciated was the time they spent together reading while the stew cooked! Are there other ways that they can feel connected to people in their lives? How is cooking a community activity? Students may find connections with relatives who want them to be outside and read, looking for imagination building instead of always being electronically connected.
27 Feb. 2013. Kirkus Review
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
July 3, 2013
On a rainy day when the children in the story are feeling sad because they can't go out to play, Grandpa has an idea ~ they'll gather ingredients for a Rainbow Stew. A trip to the garden where Grandpa teaches them how to harvest the colorful veggies. They tromp back into the house, wet but once they're dry and changed, they work together to create a Rainbow Stew. While it simmers on the stove, everyone cuddles up with a book. The family enjoys their hard work by feasting on their creation. Contains a recipe for Rainbow Stew in the endpapers. Colorful illustrations accompany the story.
Pair with Growing Vegetable Soup.
Pair with Growing Vegetable Soup.
August 9, 2015
I love books about food! Especially picture books that involve a family spending time together to prepare that food. It's a rainy day at Grandpa's house and the children are all bummed because it' too wet to go outside and play. Grandpa decides it would be a great day to make Rainbow Stew. So, they put on raincoats, head out to the garden, and pick vegetables. Then they go into the kitchen to prepare the stew. The text is in rhyme, making it a fun read for children. The illustrations are bright and colorful and really help make the fun mood of this story. I love that the author included a recipe if you reading this story made you hungry for this stew!
May 15, 2013
The rain can't keep three grandchildren and their grandfather down for long. Despite the wet weather, he suggests that they pick vegetables from the garden, and make a yummy stew from the colorful produce. The text is filled with wonderful sounds while the multimedia collage illustrations are colorful and show real enjoyment for the time the four spend togethet and their pleasure in savoring that stew. One of the things I love about the book is how the family reads books while waiting for the meal to cook. Back matter includes a recipe for Rainbow Stew.
June 6, 2013
A visit with Grandpa is almost ruined by the rain, but Grandpa has a plan: everybody outside to pick vegetables for Rainbow Stew. With their baskets full of colorful veggies, its back inside to dry off and cook up a pot of stew. This delightful book shows a loving African American family working, playing, cooking and sharing life and a meal together. Key words in the rhyming text change colors to go along with the rainbow theme. Reviewer 15
July 11, 2013
Lovely rhyming story featuring Grandpa and three of his grandchildren having fun on a rainy day. Perhaps my favorite part of this book is that there is no Grandma. It's just Grandpa and he rocks big time. Would be great to share with a preschool or even in regular storytime though it's a little long (but they get muddy and hang out in the garden and cook so lots going on to keep them interested).
June 27, 2013
Rainbow Stew is quite literally a colorful read. Three sibling spend a rainy day collecting a variety of colorful produce from their grandfathers garden for a tasty stew. A fun book to share with preschool age kiddos learning about colors and some of the different types of plants that are grown in a garden.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews