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Summer Supper
A bold and graphic farm-to-table story, told entirely in words beginning with the letter “s”!
From sowing seeds in spring to savoring succotash, follow the creation of a family meal from the farm to the picnic table on a warm summer evening. Told entirely in words beginning with the letter “s,” this book will give children an appreciation for the process by which their food travels to the dinner table.
Mike Austin cleverly incorporates Rubin Pfeffer’s words into his art and creates a visual feast in which kids will love to indulge! Layers of humor and storytelling make this worth many revisits.
From sowing seeds in spring to savoring succotash, follow the creation of a family meal from the farm to the picnic table on a warm summer evening. Told entirely in words beginning with the letter “s,” this book will give children an appreciation for the process by which their food travels to the dinner table.
Mike Austin cleverly incorporates Rubin Pfeffer’s words into his art and creates a visual feast in which kids will love to indulge! Layers of humor and storytelling make this worth many revisits.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2018
2 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
May 25, 2018
Simple story shows something special. Sweet sentences sketch sustenance supply scenarios. Super!
August 11, 2021
Great 'field to table' book that connects children with the food they eat - all told with words beginning with the letter 'S'!
June 27, 2021
Featured in a grandma reads session.
A fun book to read aloud - and fun to have the kids switch it up and read back to me - especially young ones who still struggle with the letter "s"!!!
The focus is on S, but also on food grown for an eventual supper towards the book's end. . . sweet multi-media art accompanies the message.
We enjoyed it!
A fun book to read aloud - and fun to have the kids switch it up and read back to me - especially young ones who still struggle with the letter "s"!!!
The focus is on S, but also on food grown for an eventual supper towards the book's end. . . sweet multi-media art accompanies the message.
We enjoyed it!
June 9, 2020
Bright simple book that can spark conversation in curious children.
September 4, 2018
Central locations, streets and parks, are gathering spaces for plentiful produce. Rows of white-tented booths are bursting with fruits, vegetables, fresh-baked breads and pastries, honey and flowers. All the hours, days and weeks of work are spread before browsers and shoppers alike.
There is nothing quite like the farmers' markets in August. In our local area there is at least one for five days of the week. Some communities have markets twice a week. Summer Supper (Random House, May 8, 2018) written by Rubin Pfeffer with pictures by Mike Austin is a spirited salute to those who plant in the spring and relish the results in summer.
My full recommendation: http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
There is nothing quite like the farmers' markets in August. In our local area there is at least one for five days of the week. Some communities have markets twice a week. Summer Supper (Random House, May 8, 2018) written by Rubin Pfeffer with pictures by Mike Austin is a spirited salute to those who plant in the spring and relish the results in summer.
My full recommendation: http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
May 24, 2018
I loved this! First it is a very well done farm-to-table story. But then the text and illustrations are so lively and fun they pop right off the pages. AND all the words begin with the letter S! An perfect book for preschool and kindergarten classrooms as well as being a fun lap book. Delicious ;-)
June 30, 2018
Told entirely in words that start with the letter S, this picture book is a celebration of summer, seeds and sunshine. In their garden, a family grows spinach, squash, spuds, strawberries and sunflowers. The story begins with the sowing of the seeds, watering them and the sprouts growing. It moves quickly on to harvest where the vegetables are made into salad and succotash. The night ends with music, cleaning up and bed. And maybe one final snack.
Told in very simple words, the story is accented by “s” words shared right in the illustrations. The book is fast moving which will be welcomed by small children who are eager to see the results of the hard work of gardening. The celebratory nature of the book revolves around the harvest and the family. The illustrations are bright and merry, showing the color of the garden. A yummy book to share throughout the spring, summer and fall. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
Told in very simple words, the story is accented by “s” words shared right in the illustrations. The book is fast moving which will be welcomed by small children who are eager to see the results of the hard work of gardening. The celebratory nature of the book revolves around the harvest and the family. The illustrations are bright and merry, showing the color of the garden. A yummy book to share throughout the spring, summer and fall. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
January 16, 2019
A family grows their own food and makes a dinner from it! Rubin Pfeffer tells how they do it with few words. What's impressive is that all of the words that Pfeffer uses begin with "s." In fact it's amazing how many words there are relating plants and cooking that begin with "s". The story is told in a few words and very colorful illustrations that tell most of the story. This would be a fun read aloud as there are lots of onomatopoeia words throughout the story as the crops and meal take shape and the family and friends celebrate with a dinner and dance.
June 20, 2019
S is for Summer, spinach, strawberries and a host of other words showcased in this story. Pfeffer and Austin have created a sequential tale beginning with a family planting seeds and ending with them sharing a scrumptious family picnic.
This book is appropriate for all new readers, from early emergent to emergent to early reading. The large print and simple alliterative phrases are easy to track; the vivid illustrations are bright, eye-catching and rich with lively details that should boost vocabulary development. A wonderful introduction to initial letter sounds and family togetherness.
This book is appropriate for all new readers, from early emergent to emergent to early reading. The large print and simple alliterative phrases are easy to track; the vivid illustrations are bright, eye-catching and rich with lively details that should boost vocabulary development. A wonderful introduction to initial letter sounds and family togetherness.
July 10, 2018
I loved the bright colorful illustrations, bold lettering and simple text. This was a big hit for a summer Reading and Rhythm class for toddlers and preschoolers. We had a great discussion about what it takes for fruits and vegetables to grow and what their favorite ones were to eat.
July 10, 2018
Awesome book for baby storytime and toddler storytime. Everything starts with S so we sounded like a nest of snakes practicing our S sounds. Fun book for point and say as well. Beautiful bright illustrations.
May 12, 2018
How clever to tell the story using only words that start with the letter "s" and the pictures are wonderful too!
July 5, 2018
Liliana approved! Very bright & simplistic words to share!
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September 19, 2020I thought this was so cute and so fun, perfect for little readers with its simple narrative and perfect use of alliteration.
July 30, 2019
Really great book. So much to talk about
June 22, 2023
I feel like this would make a good Board Book.
July 5, 2018
In this book, Pfeffer manages to tell a rich and detailed story of a family planting a garden, harvesting, and hosting a neighborhood harvest dinner, all with one and two word sentences (and all the words beginning with s)! New readers will be able to guess at and sound out many words, as they are accompanied by bright and bold pictures that go beautifully with the text. Children will get a sense of the work that goes into planting and caring for a garden, preparing food, sharing a meal, and cleaning up afterwards. There’s even a community dance thrown in! A nice selection for gardening story times, playgroups helping with community gardens, or farmers’ markets kids’ activity booths. Kids will want to chat about all the things they see in the pictures that aren’t mentioned in the words.
December 24, 2018
Summer Supper by Rubin Pfeffer, illustrated by MikeAustin. PICTURE BOOK. Random House, 2018. $18. 9781524714742
BUYING ADVISORY: PRE-K – ESSENTIAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
This book uses minimal words and labeled illustrations drawn with bold shapes and colors to follow the journey from a garden to the dinner table. Pfeffer continues on through a sunset fiddle session, washing the dishes, and bedtime, complete with a final midnight snack.
Share this one with your toddlers and pre-schoolers to talk about food production, or common daily activities, or the letter S (every word in the text and on the labels begins thus). It’s bright and happy and will make you smile while providing lots of items to point to and discuss.
P. K. Foster, teacher-librarian
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
BUYING ADVISORY: PRE-K – ESSENTIAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
This book uses minimal words and labeled illustrations drawn with bold shapes and colors to follow the journey from a garden to the dinner table. Pfeffer continues on through a sunset fiddle session, washing the dishes, and bedtime, complete with a final midnight snack.
Share this one with your toddlers and pre-schoolers to talk about food production, or common daily activities, or the letter S (every word in the text and on the labels begins thus). It’s bright and happy and will make you smile while providing lots of items to point to and discuss.
P. K. Foster, teacher-librarian
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...
May 24, 2018
Illustrated by Mike Austin in bold graphic style ala Lois Ehlert, Summer Supper tells the story of a multicultural family moving through the entire process of planting the garden to eating the results. Told entirely with s words making a great book for word study around s sounds including blends and digraphs), it would be a good book for young readers to read for self. Many additional things are labeled in the book again all s words) making reading with a partner an easy task as well. It could find a good role in the primary classroom collection or in home collections familiar with this topic.
June 11, 2018
Summer Supper is a wonderful book that reveals the process of food becoming food and the journey food takes from the moment it sprouts to the moment it appears on a plate. The author, Rubin Pfeffer, manages to relay all this information without forming complete sentences and by using only words that begin with the letter, "S." The result? A savory, simple storybook that will grab the attention of young tots and preschoolers alike. Both the content (learning about where food comes from) and the delivery (use of alliteration) make excellent teaching moments. Genius! This book would make a superb addition to a summer-themed storytime session for babies, toddlers, and/or preschoolers.
October 14, 2019
This is a beautiful book for the younger child, learning sounds, or the advancing reader who can understand the concept further, as the layers are actually complex. It is about a summer supper [the title], but it is really about how it came to be grown, gathered, and a family gathering happens.
The art is stylized, which eaves a little to be desired [by me, at least] in the characters and seeing their diversity better, but it is a design mastery in all other ways.
And I did not get tired of reading all the S words.
It is a perfect book for Thanksgiving time, or any holiday meal, gathering, or tradition of sharing as well.
The art is stylized, which eaves a little to be desired [by me, at least] in the characters and seeing their diversity better, but it is a design mastery in all other ways.
And I did not get tired of reading all the S words.
It is a perfect book for Thanksgiving time, or any holiday meal, gathering, or tradition of sharing as well.
May 28, 2018
Summer Supper... simply spring to summer, planting to harvest, food to table book explaining how food grows and is shared. This book educates readers using only words beginning with "S". It took me a few pages to realize this. Gorgeous, vibrant, and diverse, the cast of characters illustrated in the book help remind readers of the beauty involved in planting food. Great for storytime and for young readers to point out things in the images to add to the story. Really enjoyed reading!
August 12, 2021
The art here reminds me of books illustrated by Shari Halpern,--look at her book It's Pumpkin Time!, and the multicultural characters will delight (though I found myself trying to sort out the relationships). I lean toward 3.75 on this, but I'll give it the 4.
November 11, 2019
I may be be partial to the topic of produce and gardening because of a produce farming background. This title, however, is a gem. From beginning to end we’re the planting of seeds, to harvesting vegetables, to preparing them for supper, and to after supper activities.
The very creative aspect of this book is the limited focused text using mainly action words beginning with the letter S. An incredible way to write a story.
The very creative aspect of this book is the limited focused text using mainly action words beginning with the letter S. An incredible way to write a story.
June 6, 2018
More than just the gardening story I thought it would be from the cover. The art makes it, bold and vivid, as we go from a garden to a farmer's market to a field supper at a farm, to bedtime and even a midnight snack. Simple language describes but does not really add to the story. A welcome offering to a summer picture books collection.
May 24, 2018
It is a testament to how well it's written that I didn't notice all the words began with the letter "s" until I read it aloud during storytime!
September 1, 2018
This book about backyard gardening has simple text, composed entirely of words beginning with the letter "s." There are one to two large words on the bottom of each page as well as the occasional word identifying an object or sound in the illustration above. While the "s" words result in some odd vocabulary choices, single and two word phrases would be great for Pre-K audiences. The text is accompanied by bright stylized illustrations reminiscent of Lois Ehlert.
The pictures are by far the best part of this book, but the subject choices for the illustrations are extremely strange and largely inaccurate. I am guessing that the illustrator is an urbanite without any gardening experience. For example, on the opening spread the mother and her two children are planting seeds; however, their garden plot sits between rows of ripe corn, which indicates that it is late summer rather than spring, making this the entirely wrong season to plant seeds. Also, only one to two ears of corn grow per stalk, so the cornstalks with four ears a piece are totally wrong. Then later in the story, the family seems to be holding a farmer's market in either the middle of their backyard vegetable garden, which isn't how people who sell produce operate, or a roadside farm stand operated by the family that appears out of nowhere and is never mentioned again. Based on the previous illustrations, the family certainly isn't cultivating enough food to sell, so this inclusion is nonsensical. What is depicted is a hobby garden for the entertainment of the children or a kitchen garden, which might supplement their summer meals but would never produce an overabundance. Finally, the book negates the importance of vegetables and the significance the family's communal and locally grown "summer supper" by having the father sneak into the refrigerator in the middle of the night to eat a slice of cake on the final page. Apparently, the abundant healthy meal wasn't satisfying enough.
If you need a book for the letter "s" as part of a preschool or kindergarten curriculum, this would be a good choice. Or if you are in need of a book to share with young children that introduces vegetables as well as some basic food and gardening vocabulary, then this book will do. However, there are better, more realistic children's books about growing vegetables such as Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert, so I wouldn't recommend it as a first choice.
The pictures are by far the best part of this book, but the subject choices for the illustrations are extremely strange and largely inaccurate. I am guessing that the illustrator is an urbanite without any gardening experience. For example, on the opening spread the mother and her two children are planting seeds; however, their garden plot sits between rows of ripe corn, which indicates that it is late summer rather than spring, making this the entirely wrong season to plant seeds. Also, only one to two ears of corn grow per stalk, so the cornstalks with four ears a piece are totally wrong. Then later in the story, the family seems to be holding a farmer's market in either the middle of their backyard vegetable garden, which isn't how people who sell produce operate, or a roadside farm stand operated by the family that appears out of nowhere and is never mentioned again. Based on the previous illustrations, the family certainly isn't cultivating enough food to sell, so this inclusion is nonsensical. What is depicted is a hobby garden for the entertainment of the children or a kitchen garden, which might supplement their summer meals but would never produce an overabundance. Finally, the book negates the importance of vegetables and the significance the family's communal and locally grown "summer supper" by having the father sneak into the refrigerator in the middle of the night to eat a slice of cake on the final page. Apparently, the abundant healthy meal wasn't satisfying enough.
If you need a book for the letter "s" as part of a preschool or kindergarten curriculum, this would be a good choice. Or if you are in need of a book to share with young children that introduces vegetables as well as some basic food and gardening vocabulary, then this book will do. However, there are better, more realistic children's books about growing vegetables such as Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert, so I wouldn't recommend it as a first choice.
February 19, 2024
This book called "Summer Supper" is so cool! It's like a farm-to-table adventure, and guess what? All the words start with the letter "s"! How awesome is that?
The story starts with sowing seeds in spring, and it goes all the way to savoring succotash in summer. It's like a journey from the farm to the picnic table, and it's so much fun to see how everything happens. I didn't know you could tell a whole story just using words that start with "s," but they did it!
Mike Austin, the illustrator, did an amazing job turning Rubin Pfeffer's words into pictures. The pictures are bold and graphic, and they make the story even more exciting. It's like a visual feast for your eyes!
The best part is that it teaches you about where your food comes from. It's not just from the store; it comes from seeds, farms, and all these cool places. I never thought about it that much before, but now I appreciate my dinner more!
There's so much humor in the book too. It's not just about the food; it's also about the funny things that happen along the way. It made me laugh a lot. I think I'll read it many times because there are so many layers to the story, and I keep finding new things.
If you like funny stories, cool pictures, and learning about where your food comes from, you'll love this book. It's like a "sensational" adventure! I give it two thumbs up!
The story starts with sowing seeds in spring, and it goes all the way to savoring succotash in summer. It's like a journey from the farm to the picnic table, and it's so much fun to see how everything happens. I didn't know you could tell a whole story just using words that start with "s," but they did it!
Mike Austin, the illustrator, did an amazing job turning Rubin Pfeffer's words into pictures. The pictures are bold and graphic, and they make the story even more exciting. It's like a visual feast for your eyes!
The best part is that it teaches you about where your food comes from. It's not just from the store; it comes from seeds, farms, and all these cool places. I never thought about it that much before, but now I appreciate my dinner more!
There's so much humor in the book too. It's not just about the food; it's also about the funny things that happen along the way. It made me laugh a lot. I think I'll read it many times because there are so many layers to the story, and I keep finding new things.
If you like funny stories, cool pictures, and learning about where your food comes from, you'll love this book. It's like a "sensational" adventure! I give it two thumbs up!
May 29, 2018
I'd be a 3.5 for this one, but I really enjoyed how the author uses only words that start with the letter s in telling her story. Many farm children as well as urban ones with their own backyard plots or community gardens will relate to what's show and described here. One family puts in all the necessary work to grow produce, which they will then be able to enjoy later on when they and others gather together for a nutritious supper. There's something for everyone on that bountiful table, and after everyone has eaten as much as possible, there's a little more work involved in cleaning up and then finding a place to store those leftovers. The illustrations as well as the cover image and the endpapers are vibrant and eye-catching, and they feature some happy, smiling individuals. Maybe there's a connection between growing one's own food and contentment.
February 24, 2019
Yep. I'm starting to get away from winter books for my storytime themes. I'm over it at the moment. So instead I am going summer.
Using words that start with the letter "S," this book is a homage to the gardener and their hard work. Children learn about the growing cycle of plants and where food comes from. There is even a reference to prayer at the end.
I have not tried it in storytime yet, so I am not sure how it will be received. I will definitely be emphasizing the letter "S" to be sure ;) But that kind of feels like a no-brainer, doesn't it? ;)
Using words that start with the letter "S," this book is a homage to the gardener and their hard work. Children learn about the growing cycle of plants and where food comes from. There is even a reference to prayer at the end.
I have not tried it in storytime yet, so I am not sure how it will be received. I will definitely be emphasizing the letter "S" to be sure ;) But that kind of feels like a no-brainer, doesn't it? ;)
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