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A Summery Saturday Morning
A lively, read-aloud romp finds a group of children, dogs, a cat, and a gaggle of geese enjoying their summery Saturday morning even though things do not go quite as planned.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
1 person is currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Mahy
400 books291 followersMargaret Mahy was a well-known New Zealand author of children's and young adult books. While the plots of many of her books have strong supernatural elements, her writing concentrates on the themes of human relationships and growing up.
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
Her books The Haunting and The Changeover: A Supernatural Romance both received the Carnegie Medal of the British Library Association. There have 100 children's books, 40 novels, and 20 collections of her stories published. Among her children's books, A Lion in the Meadow and The Seven Chinese Brothers and The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate are considered national classics. Her novels have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Italian, Japanese, Catalan and Afrikaans. In addition, some stories have been translated into Russian, Chinese and Icelandic.
For her contributions to children's literature she was made a member of the Order of New Zealand. The Margaret Mahy Medal Award was established by the New Zealand Children's Book Foundation in 1991 to provide recognition of excellence in children's literature, publishing and literacy in New Zealand. In 2006 she was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award (known as the Little Nobel Prize) in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature".
Margaret Mahy died on 23 July 2012.
On 29 April 2013, New Zealand’s top honour for children’s books was renamed the New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year award.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
November 26, 2013
Having long been a family favorite, it is interesting to review ‘A Summery Saturday Morning’ from a more academic perspective.
The book’s success, and Mahy’s most venerable gift is in the rhyme. The rhyming doesn’t compromise a decent narrative (family going for walk with dogs, dogs causing mayhem, dogs have unexpected face-off with geese, happy family walks back the way they came), but enhances it. Alliteration offers enjoyable tongue-twister moments such as ‘seven sleek sisters’ and my favorite: ‘sandals slide like slugliwugs’. What fun to practice these in between mouthfuls at the children’s dinner table.
Each verse/double page has four lines, with line two twice repeating the end of line one. The last word of line three rhyme’s with the last word of lines one and two. Line four is always ‘On a summery Saturday morning’. In our house that is said in unison, at full volume, with several exclamation marks.
Example / Verse One:
We take the dogs down the wiggly track,
The wiggly track, the wiggly track. (repeats end of line one, twice)
One dog’s white and the other dog’s black (last word also rhymes with last word of lines one and two)
On a summery Saturday morning. (line four always the same)
The narrative is driven forward by action words such as: chase, grows, blowing, run, play, catch, leaping, scattering, flap, hiss, walk.
Interesting descriptive words such as summery, wiggly, rattly (also onomatopoeia), white, black, wild and free, tangled, long, mean and sleek add depth to the narrative and the characters by painting word and sound pictures to match Selina Young’s action-packed illustrations.
Young’s illustrations are drawn in pen, then coloured, and in a style which harks back to simpler times. If I had not known Mahy’s biography I would have been surprised the book was published in 1998. Every illustration is an action scene to match the verse, but here is the beauty – every illustration also adds something the words don’t say. To take verse one again as an example, in the background of the family starting to walk down the wiggly track, there is a man mowing his lawns and a mother and child hanging out the washing. It is also lovely to see the illustrator engaging with the characters in her own way, adding a trumpet to one of the boys and a toy elephant to one of the girls. The effect is that the story is bought to life on the page and engages all the senses – I can hear them! They’re so noisy! Traipsing down the path, laughing, talking, dogs barking, trumpet blowing, the neighbor calling out ‘hello!’. The illustrations add another dimension by allowing the child to search out characters who have appeared before (my favourite was the boy on the rattly bike sailing his toy boat four pages later). Encouraging children to find these elements adds to their confidence and overall engagement with the book.
It is a picture book to be read to young children, but Mahy and Young regard their young audience highly - they are not afraid to use words that challenge (eg sleek, expecting) and two wonderful, completely made-up words (guggliwugs and slugliwugs) as well as illustrations that depict complex scenes. In this way, the book offers something enjoyable to a variety of ages.
The ending offers a possible directive to children – “If you want to walk in peace . . . don’t let your dogs upset the geese . . .”. I say ‘possible’ as the ‘if’ is italicized, implying that you won’t have nearly as much fun if you follow the advice.
The scenes painted by words and illustrations are typical of a New Zealand summer holiday, identifiable to every Kiwi child. With summer on our doorstep I will be packing this one in my beach bag; just listen, you’ll hear us shouting all together: “ON A SUMMERY! SATURDAY! MORNING!”
The book’s success, and Mahy’s most venerable gift is in the rhyme. The rhyming doesn’t compromise a decent narrative (family going for walk with dogs, dogs causing mayhem, dogs have unexpected face-off with geese, happy family walks back the way they came), but enhances it. Alliteration offers enjoyable tongue-twister moments such as ‘seven sleek sisters’ and my favorite: ‘sandals slide like slugliwugs’. What fun to practice these in between mouthfuls at the children’s dinner table.
Each verse/double page has four lines, with line two twice repeating the end of line one. The last word of line three rhyme’s with the last word of lines one and two. Line four is always ‘On a summery Saturday morning’. In our house that is said in unison, at full volume, with several exclamation marks.
Example / Verse One:
We take the dogs down the wiggly track,
The wiggly track, the wiggly track. (repeats end of line one, twice)
One dog’s white and the other dog’s black (last word also rhymes with last word of lines one and two)
On a summery Saturday morning. (line four always the same)
The narrative is driven forward by action words such as: chase, grows, blowing, run, play, catch, leaping, scattering, flap, hiss, walk.
Interesting descriptive words such as summery, wiggly, rattly (also onomatopoeia), white, black, wild and free, tangled, long, mean and sleek add depth to the narrative and the characters by painting word and sound pictures to match Selina Young’s action-packed illustrations.
Young’s illustrations are drawn in pen, then coloured, and in a style which harks back to simpler times. If I had not known Mahy’s biography I would have been surprised the book was published in 1998. Every illustration is an action scene to match the verse, but here is the beauty – every illustration also adds something the words don’t say. To take verse one again as an example, in the background of the family starting to walk down the wiggly track, there is a man mowing his lawns and a mother and child hanging out the washing. It is also lovely to see the illustrator engaging with the characters in her own way, adding a trumpet to one of the boys and a toy elephant to one of the girls. The effect is that the story is bought to life on the page and engages all the senses – I can hear them! They’re so noisy! Traipsing down the path, laughing, talking, dogs barking, trumpet blowing, the neighbor calling out ‘hello!’. The illustrations add another dimension by allowing the child to search out characters who have appeared before (my favourite was the boy on the rattly bike sailing his toy boat four pages later). Encouraging children to find these elements adds to their confidence and overall engagement with the book.
It is a picture book to be read to young children, but Mahy and Young regard their young audience highly - they are not afraid to use words that challenge (eg sleek, expecting) and two wonderful, completely made-up words (guggliwugs and slugliwugs) as well as illustrations that depict complex scenes. In this way, the book offers something enjoyable to a variety of ages.
The ending offers a possible directive to children – “If you want to walk in peace . . . don’t let your dogs upset the geese . . .”. I say ‘possible’ as the ‘if’ is italicized, implying that you won’t have nearly as much fun if you follow the advice.
The scenes painted by words and illustrations are typical of a New Zealand summer holiday, identifiable to every Kiwi child. With summer on our doorstep I will be packing this one in my beach bag; just listen, you’ll hear us shouting all together: “ON A SUMMERY! SATURDAY! MORNING!”
September 18, 2008
I love this book. A woman and four kids - two white, two black, it's not sure how everybody is related, but that's fine - go walking to the beach with two dogs.
Who chase *everything*. Eventually, they chase the geese, and... well...
Let's just say that in real life, geese are vicious creatures that DO NOT BACK DOWN, and they bite, too!
It's very bouncy, nothing really scary happens (not even the geese), and the artwork is well done. For more fun, try singing it to "Mulberry bush" or "I saw three ships".
Who chase *everything*. Eventually, they chase the geese, and... well...
Let's just say that in real life, geese are vicious creatures that DO NOT BACK DOWN, and they bite, too!
It's very bouncy, nothing really scary happens (not even the geese), and the artwork is well done. For more fun, try singing it to "Mulberry bush" or "I saw three ships".
July 21, 2014
We got given this (for our son) to introduce us to Margaret Mahy (who lived locally). I'm sure kids would enjoy it but I found it a little repetitive (though I did enjoy the word 'guggliwugs') and I'm not a big fan of the illustrations either to be honest. Yet to be convinced.
21/07/14: update
I think I read this over 40 times this weekend to a sick son who decided this is his next favourite. As a consequence, not only can I recite it pretty much word for word, it's also grown on me, illustrations and all. I've upgraded to 3 stars.
21/07/14: update
I think I read this over 40 times this weekend to a sick son who decided this is his next favourite. As a consequence, not only can I recite it pretty much word for word, it's also grown on me, illustrations and all. I've upgraded to 3 stars.
April 7, 2021
review coming soon
September 2, 2019
1.What are three (3) important points made by the author?
a. The Saturday morning, family went to short trip.
b. Use picture to let them know cat, dog, geese.
c. Let them love the nature.
2. What does this article say about children’s literature and its role in education?
This article kind like a rhyme, easily to understand and some children might can follow the parent to hum, and also the picture is colorful, and kids can look the picture and guess what happens.
3. Any specific questions about the article?
Why each end of the paragraph need to add " On a summery Saturday"
a. The Saturday morning, family went to short trip.
b. Use picture to let them know cat, dog, geese.
c. Let them love the nature.
2. What does this article say about children’s literature and its role in education?
This article kind like a rhyme, easily to understand and some children might can follow the parent to hum, and also the picture is colorful, and kids can look the picture and guess what happens.
3. Any specific questions about the article?
Why each end of the paragraph need to add " On a summery Saturday"
November 18, 2013
The narrative for this tale follows the tune to Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
It's a humorous romp on a Saturday morning with children, adults and pets, and children will enjoy the sing-song narrative. The colorful and cartoonish illustrations complement the story nicely and conveyn images of a fun summer day. We enjoyed reading this book together.
It's a humorous romp on a Saturday morning with children, adults and pets, and children will enjoy the sing-song narrative. The colorful and cartoonish illustrations complement the story nicely and conveyn images of a fun summer day. We enjoyed reading this book together.
July 26, 2014
A small summer adventure--trying to get to the beach, dogs creating havoc by chasing some geese; try again with leashes.
You MUST sing this story: either "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", "We Saw Three Ships" or even "The Wheels on the Bus". And then it's glorious.
The illustrations are funny, too--love the mean look in the goose's eye. A cheerful, slightly suspenseful summer story-time favorite.
You MUST sing this story: either "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", "We Saw Three Ships" or even "The Wheels on the Bus". And then it's glorious.
The illustrations are funny, too--love the mean look in the goose's eye. A cheerful, slightly suspenseful summer story-time favorite.
June 13, 2008
I thought this book had a funny ending, but I didn't care for the repetitive lines in the poem. I got tired of saying the same line over and over again, feeling like I should be singing instead of reading.
January 18, 2012
Kids love it as part of a summer storytime theme, especially if you sing the book to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus!" The rhyming and repetition make it a great selection for early literacy lessons.
November 16, 2013
This would be another great book to use when beginning to talk about rhyming words with kindergarteners. AFter reading this story, students could right their own list of rhyming words or even begin to write their own poems.
June 22, 2008
summer, geese and dogs, beach/water
musical rhythm
'The geese begin to run away,
Run away, run away.
The dogs run, too. They want to play
On a summery Saturday morning.'
musical rhythm
'The geese begin to run away,
Run away, run away.
The dogs run, too. They want to play
On a summery Saturday morning.'
November 7, 2008
Very fun.
July 16, 2009
Cute Story about a family going to the sea with the dogs. The dogs go after the geese and the geese go after the dogs.
October 5, 2010
This rhyming book talks about things that are seen during the summer. It has a lot of rhyming that children can chime in on. It can also be used for a transition.
December 19, 2016
Read at Pajama Story Time on 8/1/12: http://storytimesecrets.blogspot.com/...
October 2, 2012
I always sing the lines because well, it feels right to sing it, and my kids love it.
April 15, 2013
Beautiful in every which way.
May 5, 2016
What a brilliantly told story! Loved the rhyme.
November 4, 2019
Don't be shy to sing - your kids will love it no matter how bad your voice.
The illustrations are fun.
Unfortunately, all I see is that the dogs (& geese) spoiled the day for the people.
The illustrations are fun.
Unfortunately, all I see is that the dogs (& geese) spoiled the day for the people.
May 10, 2020
Hilarious!
January 30, 2021
Love the rhymes in this story! Fun to sing and read.
May 27, 2021
Kids loved the cadence of the words
September 19, 2017
9/18/17 Read with Naomi
June 26, 2020
It was fun to read about the family trying to catch their dog.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2022
Super cute book
June 2, 2023
Nice rhyme. Lovely geese
December 7, 2023
Within a few lines you realise this whole book can be sung. I can't call myself musical but the rhythm is obvious
August 21, 2024
Like the story, love the art, not a huge fan of repetition in stories (yes, I know the reasons, no, I do not care). But it's Mahy and I am a fan.
January 14, 2025
Genius book, beautiful repetition, lovely rhythm. Love this book for my kids.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews