Talia and the Rude Vegetables

by Linda Elovitz Marshall, Francesca Assirelli (Illustrator)

Overview

“How can a vegetable be ‘rude’?” Talia wonders, when she mis-hears her grandmother asking her to gather “root” vegetables for a Rosh Hashanah stew. As Talia digs in the garden, she collects the twisted, ornery carrots and parsnips—the “rude” vegetables that she thinks her grandmother wants—and finds a good home for the rest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761352181
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2011
Series:	High Holidays Series
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Linda Elovitz Marshall raised her four children, a small flock of sheep, lots of zucchinis and countless rabbits in a historic farmhouse overlooking the Hudson River in upstate New York. A graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University, she has written many children's books.

Francesca Assirelli studied painting at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Naples. She has illustrated many Italian, French, and English children's books, including Talia and the Rude Vegetables and Talia and the Very YUM Kippur. She loves children and animals, especially squirrels!

Editorial Reviews

"This laugh-out-loud title keeps the little jokes coming." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

K-Gr 2—Talia's grandmother asks her to pick seven root vegetables from the garden for a Rosh Hashanah recipe. Mishearing her, the child seeks out "rude" vegetables, creatively interpreting the plants' awkward shapes as misbehavior. In the process, she sets aside the unwanted perfect produce and does a mitzvah by donating it to feed the hungry. This is a book of missed opportunity. It starts out strong, as Talia ponders the meaning of the Jewish New Year: asking forgiveness for misdeeds and promising to do better. This theme is reinforced by her thoughts on the first few veggies; for instance, an ornery onion that is difficult to dig up "won't do what it's told," and a garishly purple garlic bulb "seems like a big show-off." However, the story is weakened by Talia's explanations petering out halfway through, and by the lack of explicit redemption for these rude vegetables (being cooked into delicious stew could make up for their supposed bad behavior, but this is never made clear). In an anticlimactic ending, the story stops before the vegetables are even cooked, and readers never find out whether Talia learned anything from her mistake. A recipe for vegetable stew is included.—Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

School Library Journal

A little girl's misunderstanding, the harvesting of some root vegetables and a recipe for stew merge for an amusing Jewish New Year story.

Talia, a city girl, is visiting her grandmother, who tells her to "bring back seven root vegetables" from the garden. Hearing "rude" for "root," the confused child ponders over this while she proceeds to find her perception of rude veggies in an ornery onion, a garish garlic, a crooked carrot, a terrible turnip, lumpy bumpy potatoes, big ugly parsnips and "rude-abagas...definitely rude." Pleased with how well she has satisfied Grandma's request, Talia decides to donate the other perfectly nice vegetables to the Rabbi as a mitzvah for a poor family. The narrative, with its recurring theme of "what Grandma wants," is matched well to Assirelli's illustrations. Their terra-cotta and earthy hues combine with deep purple and olive-green tones for kitchen and backyard scenes. Talia's round face is drawn with thin lines detailing expressions of surprise, pleasure and the exertion of digging and pulling. Marshall incorporates many new words to extend the term "rude" while at the same time allowing youngsters, who will soon realize Talia's mix-up, to learn the names of the various root vegetables.

A charming fall story loosely structured by Judaic concepts. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews