What do you think?
Rate this book
Pumpkin Soup #3
Delicious!: A Pumpkin Soup Story
Cat, Squirrel, and Duck have a very serious problem: there are no ripe pumpkins in the garden for their favorite soup! They'll have to make something else, but while Cat and Squirrel are willing to experiment, all Duck wants is pumpkin soup. He won't even try a taste of the fish soup or mushroom soup, and the beet soup his friends make is the last straw— "I'm not eating that," he says. "It's pink!" Can Cat and Squirrel find a way to please their fussy friend?
This follow-up to the popular Pumpkin Soup and A Pipkin of Pepper is a perfect story about a picky eater, illustrated with rich, expressive paintings in which children will find much to discover—and it includes a recipe for pink soup!
This follow-up to the popular Pumpkin Soup and A Pipkin of Pepper is a perfect story about a picky eater, illustrated with rich, expressive paintings in which children will find much to discover—and it includes a recipe for pink soup!
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
109 people want to read
About the author
Helen Cooper
62 books106 followersHelen Sonia Cooper is a British illustrator and an author of children's literature. She grew up in Cumbria, where she practiced literature and piano playing. She currently lives in Oxford.
Cooper has twice been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. She won for The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed in 1996, which she wrote and illustrated. In 1998 she won for Pumpkin Soup, which she also wrote and illustrated. They were consecutive projects for her.
Beside winning the two Greenaway Medals (no one has won three), Cooper made the shortlist for The Bear Under the Stairs (Doubleday, 1993) and Tatty Ratty (Doubleday, 2001).
As well as her solo picture books, Cooper writes picture book texts for other illustrators, and also illustrates her own middle grade fiction - most recently, The Taming of the Cat' published by Faber and Faber in the UK.
WorldCat reports that Pumpkin Soup is her work most widely held in participating libraries.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See here for more details
Cooper has twice been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. She won for The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed in 1996, which she wrote and illustrated. In 1998 she won for Pumpkin Soup, which she also wrote and illustrated. They were consecutive projects for her.
Beside winning the two Greenaway Medals (no one has won three), Cooper made the shortlist for The Bear Under the Stairs (Doubleday, 1993) and Tatty Ratty (Doubleday, 2001).
As well as her solo picture books, Cooper writes picture book texts for other illustrators, and also illustrates her own middle grade fiction - most recently, The Taming of the Cat' published by Faber and Faber in the UK.
WorldCat reports that Pumpkin Soup is her work most widely held in participating libraries.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See here for more details
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
November 9, 2010
One of the sequels to Pumpkin Soup this book is definitely enjoyable; there is no denying the adorable illustrations and I gotta say some days I really can really empathize with the poor, frustrated (grumpy!) duck. And I liked that the little ladybugs were there on the sidelines reminding us not to waste food since the furry critters were being quite wasteful! But, really, there is nothing that new/different/special about this book that wasn't already covered in "Pumpkin Soup" so I wouldn't go out of my way to find a copy unless you really just can't get enough of the trio and their antics around the soup pot!
October 14, 2018
Cat, Duck, and Squirrel - the three friends and room-mates whose story began in
Pumpkin Soup
, and continued in
A Pipkin of Pepper
- return in this, their third adventure. When the trio discover that there are no ripe pumpkins in their patch, their plan to make their favorite treat (pumpkin soup, of course!) comes to nothing, and they must look to Cat's dusty recipe book for other ideas. Predictably, Duck proves difficult, refusing to eat the fish, mushroom and beets soups that the friends produce. Finally, in desperation, Cat decides he will trick his recalcitrant friend, making something that looks like pumpkin soup, but is made from yellow zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, and corn.
As with the first two picture-books given over to the doings of this lovable feline, anatine and sciurine trio (haha, that's three animals adjectives at once!), Delicious! is a delightful visual feast for the reader, beautifully illustrated by Helen Cooper with rich colors and expressive details. I don't know that I loved it quite as much as the first two, but it was still very engaging, and will undoubtedly appeal to children who are picky eaters, as well as to the adults in their lives. My favorite detail? The running dual "narrative" with the household bugs, who protest the waste of food going on, as Duck rejects one soup after another. Hilarious!
As with the first two picture-books given over to the doings of this lovable feline, anatine and sciurine trio (haha, that's three animals adjectives at once!), Delicious! is a delightful visual feast for the reader, beautifully illustrated by Helen Cooper with rich colors and expressive details. I don't know that I loved it quite as much as the first two, but it was still very engaging, and will undoubtedly appeal to children who are picky eaters, as well as to the adults in their lives. My favorite detail? The running dual "narrative" with the household bugs, who protest the waste of food going on, as Duck rejects one soup after another. Hilarious!
January 15, 2012
This story is very good for introducing healthy eating and has good links with PSHE for instigating class discussion about eating healthily and trying new foods.
This story is about three friends, a cat, a squirrel and a duck. All three friends are hungry and decide on cooking a delicious pumpkin soup. They get all the ingredients together and cook the soup but duck then decides he does not want to eat pumpkin soup, so the three friends cook different types of soups for him to try. Duck however, is a very fussy eater and finds reasons not to eat the soups they have cooked. In the end duck gets incredibly hungry and settles for vegetable soup.
This would be a good story to read to children in EYFS, particularly if there is a child or a group of children who are not eating / trying different foods at lunchtime.
This story is about three friends, a cat, a squirrel and a duck. All three friends are hungry and decide on cooking a delicious pumpkin soup. They get all the ingredients together and cook the soup but duck then decides he does not want to eat pumpkin soup, so the three friends cook different types of soups for him to try. Duck however, is a very fussy eater and finds reasons not to eat the soups they have cooked. In the end duck gets incredibly hungry and settles for vegetable soup.
This would be a good story to read to children in EYFS, particularly if there is a child or a group of children who are not eating / trying different foods at lunchtime.
March 2, 2014
The story is about 3 friends, a cat, squirrel and a duck. All 3 friends are hungry so decide to cook pumpkin soup. They gather all the ingredients and cook soup but then Duck decides he does not want to eat the pumpkin soup. The 3 friends cook different types of soups for him to try. However Duck is a fussy eater and finds excuses not to eat the soups they have cooked. Eventually, Duck becomes very hungry and settles for vegetable soup.
This story would be good to introduce healthy eating in, for example, a PSHE lesson during a class discussion about trying new foods and eating healthily.It would be good to use at the start of a lesson to engage EYFS children and encourage them to try new foods. After reading the story, pupils could have samples of different soup provided to them to try, then go on to describe the tastes, smell and if they think it is healthy or unhealthy.
This story would be good to introduce healthy eating in, for example, a PSHE lesson during a class discussion about trying new foods and eating healthily.It would be good to use at the start of a lesson to engage EYFS children and encourage them to try new foods. After reading the story, pupils could have samples of different soup provided to them to try, then go on to describe the tastes, smell and if they think it is healthy or unhealthy.
July 5, 2011
This is the third book in the Pumpkin Soup series. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first two. I love the fun illustrations as usual with these books. Duck was a tad too picky and I didn't care for his behavior. Going to bed hungry with horrible pains in his tummy because he wouldn't even taste anything other than pumpkin soup. (Reading this book to my daughter during a picky eating phase didn't help the book either.)
I did enjoy the bugs on the sidelines encouraging children to not waste perfectly good food and the end illustration was very amusing.
This book contains a recipe that might appeal to some, just not me.
I did enjoy the bugs on the sidelines encouraging children to not waste perfectly good food and the end illustration was very amusing.
This book contains a recipe that might appeal to some, just not me.
June 27, 2012
Duck, Squirrel, and Cat are back for another soup themed tale. Only this time, there are no pumpkins around for their beloved pumpkin soup. Can they make a delicious soup without pumpkin?
Text is prose-like, great for reading aloud and the illustrations contain a second plot line in the borders of the pages.
Text is prose-like, great for reading aloud and the illustrations contain a second plot line in the borders of the pages.
October 27, 2012
I like my children's books like Calvin Klein likes his models: emaciated and short.
I like my books emaciated because it shows they have history. I also like them emaciated because that is generally an indication of the fact that they are short. I like them short because I want my kids to fucking go to sleep rather than staying up all night, hanging off every word on every page in a never-ending epic.
That's why I picked up this book. It was thin, which I assumed meant it was short. It was heavily damaged, I assumed because it was well circulated. But the reality is likely that someone beat this book off their head when they opened it because they realized it is a relentless, redundant, never-ending hell storm of complaints. My kids get enough of that shit from me. They don't need some duck pissing and moaning about everything in its dreary existence to reinforce the horrors of life.
[image error]
That's right. Fuck you, duck.
I guess its unfair to boil Delicious! down to such an extreme. You can't ignore the fact that this book promotes lying, and depicts scenes of reckless violence that not even the hypothetical, mentally-challenged and hyper-violent offspring of Chef Ramsey and Jerry Springer could manage. I guess the lying is a bit overshadowed by the violence when it comes right down to it though. When you watch this duck slam dishes and knock huge boiling cauldrons of soup onto the floor in a fit of rage, you won't really wonder why his friends lie through their teeth to him. Duck is an asshole, and if they don't lie to him he'll most likely end up killing them.
What really gets me about this book is the "healthy and nutritious" theme that is sprinkled throughout the book like urine from a narrow urethra sprinkled on stadium urinals. The squirrel and cat are always concerned about whether or not their concoctions are healthy. I'm no expert on children's books, but I gather that once you've decided to include a sociopathic, spoiled rotten duck in your book, positive undertones about health just highlight the asinine behavior of said character.
After reading this I needed closure. So I scoured the internet for a photo to scotch tape to the last page of this book, a more fitting ending if you will:
I like my books emaciated because it shows they have history. I also like them emaciated because that is generally an indication of the fact that they are short. I like them short because I want my kids to fucking go to sleep rather than staying up all night, hanging off every word on every page in a never-ending epic.
That's why I picked up this book. It was thin, which I assumed meant it was short. It was heavily damaged, I assumed because it was well circulated. But the reality is likely that someone beat this book off their head when they opened it because they realized it is a relentless, redundant, never-ending hell storm of complaints. My kids get enough of that shit from me. They don't need some duck pissing and moaning about everything in its dreary existence to reinforce the horrors of life.
[image error]
That's right. Fuck you, duck.
I guess its unfair to boil Delicious! down to such an extreme. You can't ignore the fact that this book promotes lying, and depicts scenes of reckless violence that not even the hypothetical, mentally-challenged and hyper-violent offspring of Chef Ramsey and Jerry Springer could manage. I guess the lying is a bit overshadowed by the violence when it comes right down to it though. When you watch this duck slam dishes and knock huge boiling cauldrons of soup onto the floor in a fit of rage, you won't really wonder why his friends lie through their teeth to him. Duck is an asshole, and if they don't lie to him he'll most likely end up killing them.
What really gets me about this book is the "healthy and nutritious" theme that is sprinkled throughout the book like urine from a narrow urethra sprinkled on stadium urinals. The squirrel and cat are always concerned about whether or not their concoctions are healthy. I'm no expert on children's books, but I gather that once you've decided to include a sociopathic, spoiled rotten duck in your book, positive undertones about health just highlight the asinine behavior of said character.
After reading this I needed closure. So I scoured the internet for a photo to scotch tape to the last page of this book, a more fitting ending if you will:
November 23, 2010
Are there any parents out there who can say that they have never experienced the frustration of lovingly preparing a fantastic and healthy meal only to have their beautiful little darling of a child exclaim, "Yuck!" without even tasting it? This is a great story that helps demonstrate this experience and show that you never know if you will like it or not unless you actually TRY IT!
I will say that our girls were so excited that I made the wonderful and tasty soup recipe from Pumpkin Soup, that they eagerly tried it, only to tell me that they didn't like it. [sigh] At least they tasted it. I am noting the recipe for Pink soup here, since we have to return the library book. I think it sounds wonderful. (Scrumptious! Nutritious! Delicious!) We'll see if our girls will at least try it - it's pink, so I'm crossing my fingers.
Pink Soup!
Ingredients:
3 medium-size beets
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
5 cups water
1 or 2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste (a pipkin, if you please)
plain yogurt or sour cream
Put the beets in a medium-size saucepan. cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes. Drain the beets and let them cool. The skins will then be easy to peel. Chop up the beets. (Make sure you wear an apron because beet juice is very pink!)
In a large saucepan, heat the oil and saute the onion on very low heat until it is translucent. This will take about 5 minutes. (Be careful not to let it burn!)
Now add the beets and cook them for 5 minutes.
Next pour in the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. (Keep stirring!)
Let the mixture cool and then mash it, or, better still, puree it in a blender.
Pour it back into the saucepan (Be careful not to spill it!) and stir in the milk and seasonings. (Add your salt and pepper now!)
Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes more, then pour into bowls. Plop in a large dollop of yogurt or sour cream, and stir. (Delicious!)
I will say that our girls were so excited that I made the wonderful and tasty soup recipe from Pumpkin Soup, that they eagerly tried it, only to tell me that they didn't like it. [sigh] At least they tasted it. I am noting the recipe for Pink soup here, since we have to return the library book. I think it sounds wonderful. (Scrumptious! Nutritious! Delicious!) We'll see if our girls will at least try it - it's pink, so I'm crossing my fingers.
Pink Soup!
Ingredients:
3 medium-size beets
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
1 chopped onion
5 cups water
1 or 2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste (a pipkin, if you please)
plain yogurt or sour cream
Put the beets in a medium-size saucepan. cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes. Drain the beets and let them cool. The skins will then be easy to peel. Chop up the beets. (Make sure you wear an apron because beet juice is very pink!)
In a large saucepan, heat the oil and saute the onion on very low heat until it is translucent. This will take about 5 minutes. (Be careful not to let it burn!)
Now add the beets and cook them for 5 minutes.
Next pour in the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. (Keep stirring!)
Let the mixture cool and then mash it, or, better still, puree it in a blender.
Pour it back into the saucepan (Be careful not to spill it!) and stir in the milk and seasonings. (Add your salt and pepper now!)
Slowly bring the mixture to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes more, then pour into bowls. Plop in a large dollop of yogurt or sour cream, and stir. (Delicious!)
February 12, 2018
This book is a follow on story from ‘Pumpkin Soup’ with the same characters. Duck, cat and squirrel are looking for a ripe pumpkin in their garden however can not find one so have to decide on a different recipe. Duck however is being problematic and refuses to try the different soups (fish, mushroom and beetroot) that cat and squirrel makes as he wants pumpkin soup. Cat soon gets frustrated and decides to trick duck by using orange vegetables such as carrots and ripe tomatoes to make another soup. Duck takes one look and every ally tries it and although it’s not pumpkin duck still likes it.
Throughout this book there are some other smaller characters - some bugs, which appear on every page and add humour to the story - such as eating all of the soup at the end. As well as this they play a key role in getting across important messages such as you need to eat or you will get ill and to not waste food.
Throughout this book there are some other smaller characters - some bugs, which appear on every page and add humour to the story - such as eating all of the soup at the end. As well as this they play a key role in getting across important messages such as you need to eat or you will get ill and to not waste food.
September 16, 2020
Brilliant pictures with loads of details for children to be able to look at and exam. Higher up the school, in perhaps year four this book could be used as a great introduction to instructional writing, looking at recipes and perhaps even as inspiration to make some soups!
September 18, 2024
Great book about sharing
October 5, 2011
Delicious- A Pumpkin Soup Story
Helen Cooper
This book, one of three in a serious by Helen Cooper follows the plight of Cat, Duck and Squirrel as they discover there are no pumpkins ripe to make their favourite soup. Whilst Cat and Squirrel decide to try various other kinds of soup, Duck is stubborn and unwilling, refusing to try anything unfamiliar. Cat comes up with a cunning plan to mix a combination of vegetables together to result in a broth the exact colour of pumpkin soup. Although Duck recognises that this is not pumpkin soup, he declares it “Delicious”, and the animals return to normality.
My personal opinion is that this is an excellent and enjoyable book for children in a year 3 or 4 class as it offers an exciting, interesting storyline, as well as areas for development and creativity.
I admire the language used in this book, and consider it to be very well written.
The language is advanced and adventurous, with tools such as onomatopoeia: ‘rustling’ and ‘scuffling’, providing an opportunity for children to develop linguistic technique and skill.
The author uses repetition of words such as ‘scrumptious’, ‘nutritious’ and ‘delicious’ which would offer reinforcement for children expanding their vocabulary using the book.
The language is expressive and descriptive, which sets the story in sentences which move at an exciting pace. ‘When no one was watching he peeled them, and sliced them, and chopped them, and diced them, and squished them and plopped them into the cooking pot’.
The general messages portrayed in to book include promoting teamwork; working together for a positive end result and helping others.
I feel this book would provide excellent opportunity for enhancing language skills, exploring food and animals as themes, and could be an excellent starting point for an interesting classroom display.
The Mail on Sunday described the drawings in the books as ‘Detailed and colourful illustrations you can lose yourself in’, a description which I believe is justified, and on a concluding note, I have struggled to find anything I dislike about the book.
Helen Cooper
This book, one of three in a serious by Helen Cooper follows the plight of Cat, Duck and Squirrel as they discover there are no pumpkins ripe to make their favourite soup. Whilst Cat and Squirrel decide to try various other kinds of soup, Duck is stubborn and unwilling, refusing to try anything unfamiliar. Cat comes up with a cunning plan to mix a combination of vegetables together to result in a broth the exact colour of pumpkin soup. Although Duck recognises that this is not pumpkin soup, he declares it “Delicious”, and the animals return to normality.
My personal opinion is that this is an excellent and enjoyable book for children in a year 3 or 4 class as it offers an exciting, interesting storyline, as well as areas for development and creativity.
I admire the language used in this book, and consider it to be very well written.
The language is advanced and adventurous, with tools such as onomatopoeia: ‘rustling’ and ‘scuffling’, providing an opportunity for children to develop linguistic technique and skill.
The author uses repetition of words such as ‘scrumptious’, ‘nutritious’ and ‘delicious’ which would offer reinforcement for children expanding their vocabulary using the book.
The language is expressive and descriptive, which sets the story in sentences which move at an exciting pace. ‘When no one was watching he peeled them, and sliced them, and chopped them, and diced them, and squished them and plopped them into the cooking pot’.
The general messages portrayed in to book include promoting teamwork; working together for a positive end result and helping others.
I feel this book would provide excellent opportunity for enhancing language skills, exploring food and animals as themes, and could be an excellent starting point for an interesting classroom display.
The Mail on Sunday described the drawings in the books as ‘Detailed and colourful illustrations you can lose yourself in’, a description which I believe is justified, and on a concluding note, I have struggled to find anything I dislike about the book.
Read
April 8, 2012Helen Cooper- Delicious!
From reading this story I feel the intended audience is children of Key Stage one. The book contains more text on each page but still has a a full page illustrations and small illustrations around the text to engage and support the children whilst they are being read to. The language used in the story such as scrumptious and nutritious is gently exposing children to new words and could start to extend the children to think of alternative words when they are writing their own stories.
Throughout the story it contains repetitions which could allow children to join in whilst the story is being read to them. The use of capitals in the story allows the children to see which words are being shouted this will allow the children to start thinking of expression whilst they read stories.
There are three main characters in the story; duck, cat and squirrel. They are three friends that want to make a delicious soup. Duck sniffs the different soups that they make but refuses to try the soup until the end.
I feel the moral of the story is to show children to not be afraid to try new things; it is OK to make mistakes and to not give up, be patient and to not judge a book by its cover.
I would recommend reading this story to children during a circle time or PSHE lesson as it allows for in-depth group discussions and can give the opportunity for children to ask a variety of questions.
From reading this story I feel the intended audience is children of Key Stage one. The book contains more text on each page but still has a a full page illustrations and small illustrations around the text to engage and support the children whilst they are being read to. The language used in the story such as scrumptious and nutritious is gently exposing children to new words and could start to extend the children to think of alternative words when they are writing their own stories.
Throughout the story it contains repetitions which could allow children to join in whilst the story is being read to them. The use of capitals in the story allows the children to see which words are being shouted this will allow the children to start thinking of expression whilst they read stories.
There are three main characters in the story; duck, cat and squirrel. They are three friends that want to make a delicious soup. Duck sniffs the different soups that they make but refuses to try the soup until the end.
I feel the moral of the story is to show children to not be afraid to try new things; it is OK to make mistakes and to not give up, be patient and to not judge a book by its cover.
I would recommend reading this story to children during a circle time or PSHE lesson as it allows for in-depth group discussions and can give the opportunity for children to ask a variety of questions.
April 9, 2010
This is a fun and adorable story about a squirrel, a duck, and a cat who eat pumpkin soup every day for lunch. When they run out of pumpkins they try some other soups. Delicious is a unique book due to the fact that while it's telling the main story there is another story going on in the sidebars. This is a charming book that both child and parent will enjoy and it includes the soup recipe to make it an interactive read as well.
July 18, 2014
Duck, Cat and Squirrel are hungry. They all want pumpkin soup, but no pumpkins are ripe. So they try some other types of soups. Cat and Squirrel sample them, but Duck refuses. He is so hungry. The illustrations are wonderful. In the margins, there are insects commenting and adding to the story. The ending is humorous. This also includes a recipe for soup.
November 27, 2017
One of my 4yo daughter's favourite books. Beautiful illustrations with lots of little details waiting to be discovered. A story that entertains but also shows kids that they should at least try new things to eat because they might like it.
June 29, 2012
I agree with the bugs. I have a hard time with the wasteful, whiney, finicky duck. :( My daughter commented "Oh, what a mess! He just needs to eat his dinner!"
July 28, 2014
My favorite part of this book was following the progress of the little bugs in the illustrations trying to save the wasted soup from the animals.
October 23, 2017
Helen Cooper is one of my favourite author/illustrators, and I love this trio of characters who are always cooking up something good. The images are just gorgeous and the story is fun to read aloud. The little bugs give the story an extra level of delight, and make you go back and reread. But it's the three main characters, with their complex relationship and their incredible range of expressions, who win my heart.
November 12, 2018
Cute story. Detailed, beautiful, and colorful illustrations that accompany the narrative tell several different storylines, both the animals and the insects. This is a tale that can be enjoyed by a wide range of young readers.
January 17, 2023
My children used to love Pumpkin Soup, the first in this series, and I appreciated it too. Delicious! - which is a sequel to Pumpkin Soup is a very similar story and to me didn't really seem to warrant a new book. However, the illustrations are as wonderful as ever.
December 3, 2017
That is one picky duck.
April 20, 2022
I don't really know why, but I liked this one better than the first two in the series.
April 14, 2025
Great sequel to one of my favorite childhood books
June 26, 2025
This reminded me a little bit of Jan Brett, who I love. Three animals each have their own ideas of what should go in a soup. I enjoyed both the story and the illustrations.
Read
March 8, 2012The book Delicious by Helen Cooper is an adorable and interactive book that will be extremely fun if used with your own children or students at school. There are many features to this book that I took a liking to and gave a prestigious five star rating to. In this book review we will look at the elements of design in picture books and go in detail what made me favor this book so much.
First, the lines in this book are rounded and soft giving life to all the characters and objects in the story. Everything is drawn so it looks real, not just a one dimensional character that usually would look fake. Every object drawn has multiple characteristics about it, allowing a child to relate to something in real life.
The line and shape about a book go hand in hand with the description of the objects drawn. As said before everything that is drawn in the book looks real life and you’d be able to find these objects in real life. Since the book is drawn softly, it goes a long with the books fun theme.
The value of the book conveys different levels and dimensions in the illustrations. It goes a long with the books story line because they are looking for a lot of different vegetables and the illustrations capture the many levels of vegetation they are searching in.
Space was definitely a huge part in this book; a lot of the illustrations were just the characters engaging in conversation with each other. In other illustrations they were shown in a huge field searching for different ingredients to put in their soup. Also, they detached the bugs from the story in many different places showing a side story that the bugs wanted to save the soup they were wasting. The story was written in third person describing all the events taking place. So the viewpoint was coming from a story teller.
The composition of the book was simply perfect. The text and illustrations flowed extremely well and there was not a single way of organizing the illustrations and text which kept my interest in the book. Some pages were full bleed, some were just little pictures within some text, and other illustrations were put on a 1/8 of the page. While reading the book you could really imagine what was being told, it was as if you were watching a movie because the illustrations were illustrating everything being told. One of my favorite parts of the books is where it listed the ingredients of a soup and the directions to make it showing everything it takes to make one of these soups.
The media in this book I believe is colored pencils. The fine lines of colored pencil allow it to look more realistic. The color used in the book was also vibrant in some places and neutral in others, giving the reader more to look at and the urge to keep reading it to find out what other illustrations come next. I would say that the artistic convention in this book is expressionism because the illustration looks as if they want to convey what the characters are feeling.
The format of the book I felt was nice because there was so much to look at. The separated story of the bugs trying to save the soup was a nice addition and added another viewpoint of the story. I really liked the end pages with the bugs holding spoons they had many different bugs to look at. Also, on the dust cover on the inside was the recipe for the pink soup told at the end of the story. This was one of the main reasons I picked this book, because I thought you could make this a class activity with recipes and lessons on different foods!
The book had a lot of rhyming in the book which is fun for kids, and also some repeating parts that the children could participate with, especially when the main characters were talking out loud instead of the narrator telling the story. This could definitely be a book you could increase participation with.
The content of the book could be used with a lot of different age groups. If you are teaching a child the art of cooking this could be a fun learning experience for the child. Also, the book addresses the issue of wasting food and what other people do not like could be used for others. It also deals with the Duck when he does not like the soup and does not eat he gets sick, which shows that it is important to be healthy. There could be many different lessons learned within this book.
I would definitely recommend this book to others, there are other books she has that deal with recipes to foods. It was a very cute book, with a lot of detail, and useful lessons. I will definitely be adding this to my library for my future classroom, and will be able to come up with many activities using this book. It deserved my five star rating!
First, the lines in this book are rounded and soft giving life to all the characters and objects in the story. Everything is drawn so it looks real, not just a one dimensional character that usually would look fake. Every object drawn has multiple characteristics about it, allowing a child to relate to something in real life.
The line and shape about a book go hand in hand with the description of the objects drawn. As said before everything that is drawn in the book looks real life and you’d be able to find these objects in real life. Since the book is drawn softly, it goes a long with the books fun theme.
The value of the book conveys different levels and dimensions in the illustrations. It goes a long with the books story line because they are looking for a lot of different vegetables and the illustrations capture the many levels of vegetation they are searching in.
Space was definitely a huge part in this book; a lot of the illustrations were just the characters engaging in conversation with each other. In other illustrations they were shown in a huge field searching for different ingredients to put in their soup. Also, they detached the bugs from the story in many different places showing a side story that the bugs wanted to save the soup they were wasting. The story was written in third person describing all the events taking place. So the viewpoint was coming from a story teller.
The composition of the book was simply perfect. The text and illustrations flowed extremely well and there was not a single way of organizing the illustrations and text which kept my interest in the book. Some pages were full bleed, some were just little pictures within some text, and other illustrations were put on a 1/8 of the page. While reading the book you could really imagine what was being told, it was as if you were watching a movie because the illustrations were illustrating everything being told. One of my favorite parts of the books is where it listed the ingredients of a soup and the directions to make it showing everything it takes to make one of these soups.
The media in this book I believe is colored pencils. The fine lines of colored pencil allow it to look more realistic. The color used in the book was also vibrant in some places and neutral in others, giving the reader more to look at and the urge to keep reading it to find out what other illustrations come next. I would say that the artistic convention in this book is expressionism because the illustration looks as if they want to convey what the characters are feeling.
The format of the book I felt was nice because there was so much to look at. The separated story of the bugs trying to save the soup was a nice addition and added another viewpoint of the story. I really liked the end pages with the bugs holding spoons they had many different bugs to look at. Also, on the dust cover on the inside was the recipe for the pink soup told at the end of the story. This was one of the main reasons I picked this book, because I thought you could make this a class activity with recipes and lessons on different foods!
The book had a lot of rhyming in the book which is fun for kids, and also some repeating parts that the children could participate with, especially when the main characters were talking out loud instead of the narrator telling the story. This could definitely be a book you could increase participation with.
The content of the book could be used with a lot of different age groups. If you are teaching a child the art of cooking this could be a fun learning experience for the child. Also, the book addresses the issue of wasting food and what other people do not like could be used for others. It also deals with the Duck when he does not like the soup and does not eat he gets sick, which shows that it is important to be healthy. There could be many different lessons learned within this book.
I would definitely recommend this book to others, there are other books she has that deal with recipes to foods. It was a very cute book, with a lot of detail, and useful lessons. I will definitely be adding this to my library for my future classroom, and will be able to come up with many activities using this book. It deserved my five star rating!
April 8, 2018
For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle
A cute story about a picky duck and his helpful friends. The best part of the book is the illustrations. I love all of the colors and details. The writing starts off with a very soothing flow, but that flow isn't consistent throughout the book. It is still a nice read though. A great read. I especially liked the insects and their shenanigans.
A cute story about a picky duck and his helpful friends. The best part of the book is the illustrations. I love all of the colors and details. The writing starts off with a very soothing flow, but that flow isn't consistent throughout the book. It is still a nice read though. A great read. I especially liked the insects and their shenanigans.
September 13, 2016
Delicious- A Pumpkin Soup Story
Helen Cooper
This book, one of three in a serious by Helen Cooper follows the plight of Cat, Duck and Squirrel as they discover there are no pumpkins ripe to make their favourite soup. Whilst Cat and Squirrel decide to try various other kinds of soup, Duck is stubborn and unwilling, refusing to try anything unfamiliar. Cat comes up with a cunning plan to mix a combination of vegetables together to result in a broth the exact colour of pumpkin soup. Although Duck recognises that this is not pumpkin soup, he declares it “Delicious”, and the animals return to normality.
My personal opinion is that this is an excellent and enjoyable book for children in a year 3 or 4 class as it offers an exciting, interesting storyline, as well as areas for development and creativity.
I admire the language used in this book, and consider it to be very well written.
The language is advanced and adventurous, with tools such as onomatopoeia: ‘rustling’ and ‘scuffling’, providing an opportunity for children to develop linguistic technique and skill.
The author uses repetition of words such as ‘scrumptious’, ‘nutritious’ and ‘delicious’ which would offer reinforcement for children expanding their vocabulary using the book.
The language is expressive and descriptive, which sets the story in sentences which move at an exciting pace. ‘When no one was watching he peeled them, and sliced them, and chopped them, and diced them, and squished them and plopped them into the cooking pot’.
I feel this book would provide excellent opportunity for enhancing language skills, exploring food and animals as themes, and could be an excellent starting point for an interesting classroom display.
Helen Cooper
This book, one of three in a serious by Helen Cooper follows the plight of Cat, Duck and Squirrel as they discover there are no pumpkins ripe to make their favourite soup. Whilst Cat and Squirrel decide to try various other kinds of soup, Duck is stubborn and unwilling, refusing to try anything unfamiliar. Cat comes up with a cunning plan to mix a combination of vegetables together to result in a broth the exact colour of pumpkin soup. Although Duck recognises that this is not pumpkin soup, he declares it “Delicious”, and the animals return to normality.
My personal opinion is that this is an excellent and enjoyable book for children in a year 3 or 4 class as it offers an exciting, interesting storyline, as well as areas for development and creativity.
I admire the language used in this book, and consider it to be very well written.
The language is advanced and adventurous, with tools such as onomatopoeia: ‘rustling’ and ‘scuffling’, providing an opportunity for children to develop linguistic technique and skill.
The author uses repetition of words such as ‘scrumptious’, ‘nutritious’ and ‘delicious’ which would offer reinforcement for children expanding their vocabulary using the book.
The language is expressive and descriptive, which sets the story in sentences which move at an exciting pace. ‘When no one was watching he peeled them, and sliced them, and chopped them, and diced them, and squished them and plopped them into the cooking pot’.
I feel this book would provide excellent opportunity for enhancing language skills, exploring food and animals as themes, and could be an excellent starting point for an interesting classroom display.
Read
October 7, 2011A squirrel, cat and duck are trying to get something to cook they want to make something different as they always have pumpkin soup. They all decided to go fishing, they brought everything they caught back to the cabin. The duck did not like the fish soup so they decided to make mushroom soup they went and collected mushrooms to cook the duck did not like the mishroom soup either so he went to bed hungry. All the duck wanted was pumpkin soup, the cat had remembered it was market day so they all headed of to the marke, however they couldn’t get any pumpkins so they got beetroot instead. The duck refused the beetroot soup so the cat decided to trick him and bought loads of ingredients that were orange. At last the duck was happy even though it wasn’t his favourite pumpkin soup.
This is a lovely story as the three friends helped eachother out , when the duck didnt like any of the woup the friends were kind enough to help him look for a pupmkin. And even though the cat tried to trick the duck by cooking with orange ingredients i still think he was trying to get his friend the soup he wanted. This is a great story for children as it is fun to read and is about a lovely friendship the three animals have . Also the book is well illustrated and nice to look at .
This is a lovely story as the three friends helped eachother out , when the duck didnt like any of the woup the friends were kind enough to help him look for a pupmkin. And even though the cat tried to trick the duck by cooking with orange ingredients i still think he was trying to get his friend the soup he wanted. This is a great story for children as it is fun to read and is about a lovely friendship the three animals have . Also the book is well illustrated and nice to look at .
January 16, 2013
Delicious A Pumpkin soup story is a great story to engage children in the idea that what they want they can't have all the time, which is a struggle for all children.
It starts and continues with a disgruntled duck whom wants pumpkin soup and no matter what type of soup his friends make it is not good enough and he doesn't like it. Until the end when his friend the cat makes him imitation pumpkin soup with carrots and other orange things to which he finally likes regardless of his desire for pumpkin soup. There is turmoil and strife in the middle showing children who read it that your opinions and actions can have a negative effect on your friends if you refuse to compromise.
Great illustration and even though it is predominantly a picture book the writing has a some depth and would recommend it for children aged between 5 and 9, with the lower ages having the book read to them.
It starts and continues with a disgruntled duck whom wants pumpkin soup and no matter what type of soup his friends make it is not good enough and he doesn't like it. Until the end when his friend the cat makes him imitation pumpkin soup with carrots and other orange things to which he finally likes regardless of his desire for pumpkin soup. There is turmoil and strife in the middle showing children who read it that your opinions and actions can have a negative effect on your friends if you refuse to compromise.
Great illustration and even though it is predominantly a picture book the writing has a some depth and would recommend it for children aged between 5 and 9, with the lower ages having the book read to them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews