Perfect soup, and a perfect story. (Pumpkin Soup - Helen Cooper)

Member Name: Ariel_uk

Product:	Pumpkin Soup - Helen Cooper
Date:	25/10/01 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent artwork, Lovely story

Disadvantages: none

Pumpkin Soup is a truly classic children's book: A touching story, good for both readers and listeners, and beautifully illustrated.

It tells the story of three friends, Duck, Squirrel and Cat. Each evening they work together to make their Pumpkin Soup. Cat always cuts up the pumpkin, Squirrel always stirs the soup, and Duck always adds the salt - and the soup is always delicious. But one evening Duck decides he'd much rather be stirring than adding the salt, which causes an argument, and he runs off into the woods. Soup without salt, and without the contribution of their friend is a miserable prospect, so the other two set out to find Duck, and bring him home - happy ever after.

Friendship, sharing, the small cold feeling of realizing you are quite alone are all quite big subjects for a young children’s book - and all dealt with beautifully here. The text is simple but effective - good for young readers, but it is the illustrations that really make this so special. The cottage scenes as the animals make soup are so detailed and warm, and the forest scene as Duck realizes he is lost and alone, where the tree trunks become the legs of giant beasts is terrifyingly effective. I can’t emphasis how good the artwork that forms the heart of this book is – children’s books are all to often fobbed of with generic pap, and this is a welcome change.

Absolute quality.

There’s a very good reason that this won the Kate Greenaway award for Children’s books, as well as several other awards and nominations, and has been an enduring favorite ever since.

I would greatly recommend getting the hardback because this will be read over and over - I have bought this several times as a gift for both children and adults, and have never had a less than delighted response.
Because the picture carries a lot of the story this is great both to read to younger chileren, and for those who want to read
along to. The pictures also inspire games of 'can you see' etc. I know one seven year old who delight in reading this to her younger brother. And I have a copy of my own - I'm an adult with no kids, but sometimes categories aren't important, and this is a very soothing and uplifting book to flick through once again.

The hardback retails around £10 and the paperback around £5 - it's lavishly illustrated and quite a large format, so the price is very reasonable. I'd go with the hardback - this is going to get some heavy use!

Hardback : Corgi; ISBN: 0385407947
Paperback : Corgi; ISBN: 0552545104

Achuka (a great sight for children’s books) has an interview and some more info here : http://www.achuka.co.uk/guests/helencsg.htm

Summary: