Meg's Veg

Meg and Mog

by Helen Nicoll, Jan Pieńkowski (Illustrator)

A witch and her friends plant a vegetable garden.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Humor, Gardening, Animals, 20th Century

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Helen Nicoll was born in Natland, Westmorland, in 1937. She was educated at schools in Bristol; Dartington Hall, Devon; and Froebel Education Institute, London. Helen Nicoll married Robert Kime in 1970 and they have one daughter and one son.

Helen Nicoll was a television producer with the BBC for many years. It was here, as Producer of the children's educational series WATCH, that she first met Jan Pienkowski. After working together for four years, they decided it was time to preserve their creativity in book form for future generations of children to enjoy. The result is the immensely popular MEG AND MOG series.

In addition to the MEG AND MOG series, Helen has a long and varied association with Puffin - as editor of the Junior Puffin magazine THE EGG from 1977 - 1979, as compiler of the popular children's poetry anthology POEMS FOR SEVEN YEAR OLDS AND UNDER, illustrated by Michael Foreman, and through her partnership with Puffin, the enormously popular series of Puffin Cover to Cover story tapes of which Helen is the Producer.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meg, Mog and Owl work in their vegetable garden in this seventh entry in Helen Nicoll and Jan Pieńkowski's witchy picture-book series, planting peas and carrots (Owl), a pumpkin (Mog), and some unidentified seeds (Meg). When the weather turns cold, Meg makes a sunshine spell - "Camel's hump / And vulture's eye / Make it bake / And frizzle and fry" - only to see the sultry heat all but destroy the garden. Fortunately, her spell for rain - "Splish splosh / All awash / Wellington boots / And macintosh" - brings much needed relief, and the trio close by weeding all the flowers Meg has inadvertently planted, and then eventually enjoying their harvest.

As with previous forays into the Meg and Mog series, I enjoyed Meg's Veg, appreciating its quirky cast of characters, and the vivid illustrations. The language in these books is simple, with no more than a sentence or two per page, and the layout of the text - split between the main narrative voice, which tends to run along horizontally, and speech bubbles for the characters' exclamations, which tend to run on diagonal or curved lines - is creative. Pieńkowski's artwork is colorful and appealing - I particularly liked the two-page scene in which the three friends take shelter under a colorful red umbrella, as a black raincloud hovers above them - highlighting once again, for this reader at least, how seemingly "simple" picture-books require a great deal of skill and craft to create. Recommended to young children with a taste for witchy tales, or who have enjoyed other entries in the series.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the grand scheme of Megs antics , this one is very mild .

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing I liked about this one was where a jungle grew but the. They pulled it all out !” - comments of miss 5yo

I actually really liked this one , it’s about Meg and mog going through the phases of a vegetable garden , needing the sun and the rain and harvesting etc
As always the bright colors of the pages are gorgeous and attractive !

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

All Meg and Mog stories are cute and funny and great for early readers. I remember practicing my reading with Meg and Mog when I was little, whilst waiting to visit our family doctor, Dr. Cornwall. Even though I was always so sick, I loved going to the doctor, because I always loved reading a new Meg and Mog story.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I shall be going down a Meg & Mog rabbit hole after Tania found a stash of them in a charity shop and was appalled when I told her that I had never read them!

In this installment Meg, Mog & Owl tend to the garden and vegetable patch.

[Gabby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is particularly great for looking at rhyme and tells a great story through the typologies I.e placing the words all over the pages to emphasis the journey the characters are going on.

[Pennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter absolutely loves this series, and keeps requesting more Meg books.

[Angela Randall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as funny as Meg and Mog, but still entertaining. Plus, it teaches kids about gardening and vegetables.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the sneaky dinosaur. I remember all these pictures from when I was young! Always loved mog and his pumpkin and always assumed they carved it rather than ate it. I feel obliged to point out that blackbirds don't eat carrots.

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, of course.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this to my 2 and a half year old son. I think it's a good way to help get him interested in helping me with the gardening next month!

[Wayne Farmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better Meg and Mog stories, that didn't end abruptly. Again though its the illustrations that stand out.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meg makes a veggie garden and grows lots of nice veggies to eat, but then has to eat them all.