Just a Pipkin (A Pipkin of Pepper - Helen Cooper)

Member Name: belfin

Product:	A Pipkin of Pepper - Helen Cooper
Date:	24/02/09 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful story, wonderful illustrations

Disadvantages: none

***The Background***

Helen Cooper is the author behind this wonderful book that continues the story of the characters featured in the award winning title, Pumpkin Soup. These books are magical, both for the stories and for the remarkably beautiful illustrations.

***The Story***

The story begins with a picture of a strange white cabin in the middle of a wood. Coming from the chimney is steam and smoke filled with the scent of pumpkins.

"Something was bubbling in the old white cabin.
What was in the cooking pot?

PUMPKIN SOUP!

Made by a Cat, a Squirrel and a Duck,
waiting just for a pipkin of salt
to make it the best you ever tasted...
but..."

When the page is turned we learn that there is no salt left and there is a picture of the three friends trying the soup with looks of disgust on their faces. The Cat decides that shopping is in order and the Duck wants to come to but the Squirrel and Cat are worried because Duck has a tendency to wander off and become lost.

They finally agree to take Duck and tell him that if he gets lost he must stay where he is until they find him.

Duck is amazed by all the sights, sounds and smells of the city and sees a store that sells pepper. He immediately thinks that this would make the pumpkin soup taste even better than before but the other two disagree and go to buy some salt leaving the daydreaming Duck behind.

Duck panics and forgets to stay put and has to ask the help of a friendly Mother Hen who takes him back to the pepper shop. He finds out that his friends have already been there and have gone again and is most upset so the owner of the shop phones the police who get everyone to look for Cat and Squirrel.

Duck is extremely happy when they are all reunited and they all flew home in a police helicopter with salt and pepper.

The story ends with Duck adding a pipkin of salt and a whole packet of pepper but the soup still tastes delicious.

***The Illustrations***

The artwork in this book is amazingly beautiful and each stroke has obviously been done with great care and attention to detail. The colours give the story a lovely warm glow and the animals look so real that you can almost feel their fur on each page.

***My Thoughts***

We discovered Pumpkin Soup when my son brought an educational weekend pack home from school and since then he has been looking out for more books by Helen Cooper about these lovable characters, every time we visit the library.

As with the first book, this one lilts its way through the story with an almost rhyme like quality, with Duck's thoughts being shown in swirls over the page. The quality of this beautiful book is top notch and the illustrations as well as being carefully done, tell the story well with lots of little details that children will find enchanting.

The story also teaches children an important lesson about staying close to their adults and not getting distracted. In a sensible way it encourages children to stay put, as more often than not, they will be found quicker if they don't wander off again on their own. This is really good advice and it obviously is something that is very important these days with child safety being such a concern.

My son seems to love the way the words are written on each page because there is so much variety there. Enthusiastic comments are shown in big, bold lettering and this encourages him to put emphasis on them while he is reading them.

One of my favourite bits about this book is that there are two little mini-beasts that keep popping up in the pages with comments and observations along the way. Similar to the yellow duck in the Osborne books, children will find it fun to watch out for them.

As most of you will know we get through a lot of picture books in our house and we are regular visitors to the library. Although there are loads of really good books out there for children, I have to say that I think this series will turn into a bit of a classic in years to come and if you get the chance to have a look at any of them, then I would certainly recommend it.

***Other Helen Cooper***

Pumpkin Soup
Delicious
The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed
Tatty Ratty
Little Monster Did It
The Bear Under The Stairs.

***Price & Availability***

We had the hardcover book from the library and if you're looking for a book to treasure then it may just be worth paying more for it. It publishes for £10.99 but Amazon sell it for the cheaper price of £7.25. It is also available in paperback at the publishing price of £5.99 but again Amazon have it cheaper at the price of £4.49.

Hardback ISBN No. 0385600070
Paperback ISBN No. 0552546313

Summary: Lovely story that has a useful message in it too.