Delicious

Delicious

Written and Illustrated By: Helen Cooper

Random House Children’s Books, 2006

29 Pages

Fantasy

     I chose this book, because it was in the same book trilogy as the book that I read for my read aloud lesson.  This is the last book in the series, but they can be read in any order.  The first one, Pumpkin Soup, is what the one I used for my lesson. I just couldn’t use it, because of the copyright date.  This story begins with three characters, a cat, a squirrel, and a duck.  They are trying to pick out a pumpkin, but they have trouble finding one.  The animals are use to having pumpkin soup, but they have to come up with something else for super.  Everything that the cat and squirrel suggest is turned down by the duck.  Duck doesn’t want fish soup; he sticks his nose up at the mushroom soup, too.  The only thing duck is interested in eating is pumpkin soup.  The cat and the squirrel make a different kind of soup; it turns out pink…..and of course, the duck is still not pleased.  Finally, cat and squirrel decide they will trick duck by using ingredients that will make the soup look like it’s pumpkin soup.  Duck takes a bite of the soup, but realizes it’s not the soup he thought it was; duck likes the soup, despite the fact that it is not the pumpkin soup he was expecting!

     I love the illustrations in this book.   The colors are really warm and vibrant.  The illustrator does a really great job portraying the setting of each scene.  The artist includes some smaller pictures along with some of the text to show what each character does.  I like this, because it helps the reader visually see what is going on while they are reading.  Everything is very detailed and sequenced.  The illustrator also includes pictures of the ingredients as the characters are adding them to the pot.  There are also pictures to the side of the types of foods they are using; this is a great way to emphasize the ingredients.  Overall, I think the artist did a wonderful job depicting the scenes of the story. 

     There are several ways you could use this book in your classroom.  I would use this book in my classroom to teach story grammar and vocabulary.  There are many words in the story that would be good vocabulary for students up to the third grade.  An example would be scrumptious.  These words are also very descriptive, so a lesson could also be done on adjectives.  Sequencing is another way to use this book, because the animals use ingredients in a certain order.  It can also be used to teach students that it is important to try new foods.  I think the book is appropriate for kindergarten, first, and second grade.