Pickin' Peas

by Margaret Read MacDonald, Pat Cummings (Illustrator)

Overview

Winner of Tennessee Volunteer State Award A clever, singing rabbit eats his way through the pea patch until Little Girl snatches him up, and he is soon singing a new tune as he plans his escape. With a nod to Brer Rabbit, Pickin Peas is adapted from two folktales collected in Alabama and Virginia. The lively storytelling voice of award-winning author Margaret Read MacDonald, combined with Pat Cummings' bright, bold contemporary illustrations, makes this timeless battle-of-wits an instant classic. This southern trickster folktale will teach readers the importance of resourcefulness, respect and fairness. Tell this story as a sing-along and make up dance moves as a class. Have fun with it!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939160836
Publisher:	August House Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/16/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.94(w) x 10.82(h) x 0.54(d)
Lexile:	AD460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 Months to 17 Years

About the Author

Margaret Read MacDonald has written over 60 books. Margaret brings folktales to life in her picture books with a playful, lilting language that delights and engages children of all ages from 4 to 84. She has traveled the world entertaining audiences and collecting tales from other cultures. Her PhD in Folklore combined with her experience as a children's librarian gives added meaning and authenticity to the retelling of these classic stories. When she isn't traveling, she lives in Seattle, Washington. Pat Cummings' work has been recognized with the Coretta Scott King Award, the Orbis Pictus, the NAACP Image Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. After graduating from Pratt Institute she began a career as a freelance illustrator, working on editorial, advertising, theatrical and, eventually, picture book projects. Pat is the author and/or illustrator of over 35 books, both fiction and non-fiction. She has also worked as a producer and writer for Nickelodeon's Gullah Gullah Island and now teaches children's book illustration and writing at Parsons, The New School for Design and Pratt Institute. Former gifted and award-winning students of her class include David Eza Stein, Hiroe Nakata and Julian Hector. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Pat was an Army brat and grew up in Germany, Okinawa, Kansas and Virginia. She and her husband Chuku Lee live in a loft in beautiful downtown Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

MacDonald's (A Parent's Guide to Storytelling) slight retelling of a Southern folktale centers on an energetic African American girl and the rabbit she discovers helping himself to the peas in her garden. As the young gardener sings her way through the rows of pods ("Pickin' peas. Put 'em in my pail"), the crafty animal does the same ("Pickin' peas. Land on my knees!") until she realizes he is following her. Grabbing the intruder below the ears, the child takes him indoors and stuffs him into a small box, where she threatens to keep him "till pea-picking season is OVER." Before long, however, the critter outwits his captor and, in a rather anticlimactic ending, escapes to the outdoors, where he chants, "Gonna eat all I want/ 'Cause you can't catch me!" Cummings's (Clean Your Room, Harvey Moon!) brash, contemporary art seems at odds with the folksy quality of the tale (whose heroine is referred to only as "Little Girl"). Slim pickings here. Ages 4-8. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 1-A retelling of a folktale originally collected in Alabama at the turn of the century. Little Girl plants a garden, then harvests the peas in the summer, singing "Pickin' peas./Put `em in my pail." Meanwhile, a pesky rabbit follows along behind her, eating the smaller peas that she'd left behind to grow some more. He croons, "Pickin' peas./Land on my knees." The girl, realizing she's not alone in the garden, discovers and catches the rabbit, putting him in a box "till pea-picking season is OVER." Not surprisingly, the wily animal tricks his captor into letting him go, and the next morning, he's back in the garden again. The folksy tone of the text and the contemporary illustrations, which depict an African-American girl in shorts, a tank top, and sunglasses, don't quite mesh. An author's note explaining the origins of this tale and offering storytelling tips as well as a tune for the song (invented by MacDonald) appear at the end.-Tana Elias, Meadowridge Branch Library, Madison, WI

School Library Journal

This down-home retelling of a southern folktale features a spirited little girl and the rascally rabbit who eats her carefully grown and tended peas. Little Girl becomes fed up with the rabbit's appetite for her prized pods, so she captures him, but he's too clever to be held for long. He entertains—and outsmarts—the girl for his freedom, but readers know that the two will continue to play this game for a long time to come. A perfect read-aloud, this story brims with rhythm and energy. Cummings's characters have as much personality as the text itself, while MacDonald (The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, 1995, etc.) includes suggestions for storytellers and a tune to sing the story to. Contributing to the fun is a design that makes clever use of three colors of text to distinguish the voices, encouraging participation in this entertaining tale. (Picture book/folklore. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews