The Gigantic Turnip

My 2yo got this for his b-day because his Dad's nostalgia for this folktale. He asks to read it over all of the other books he got, over...and over...and over.......haha ಥ‿ಥ It reads a bit stilted for my liking, but it's also not a grammatical nightmare (yes there are VERY bad 2nd hand books we've gotten that are barely English.....????? How??) The art is interesting, not my taste, but it doesn't look like every other book out there so in that way I'd say it's a win.If you have never heard of it (which I hadn't) it's about an old couple with lots of animals. They grow a garden and one turnip is so large the old man can't pull it out by himself, so he gets his wife. They pull together but can't get it out so they get the cow...then try again. Then they get the 2 pigs and so on until all of them have pulled together and still can't get it, and they seem about ready to give up. The wife then lures the hungry mouse from the kitchen and they all pull together. It finally comes out and they all eat turnip stew.I guess the moral is working together and that the "smallest" and most motivated person can make a difference to the entire society. Idk, that's what I get out of it, but maybe I'm an idiot, lol.

Love this story and very happy it's translated to English. Beautiful illustrations. One star off because the font is sometimes just black regular print on white background.That being said, for how special it is, and economical, I've already bought this for like, 5 kids.

I was unaware this was a classic tale retold by many and thought this copy was so cute I searched out other versions. All others paled in comparison to the both the easy repetative text and quirky illustrations, others were not nearly as well done IMO. DD asked for this one to be re-read so many times it became a companion to our home library.The story is of an old husband and wife who plant a garden and tend it through the seasons. At harvest time one turnip has grown soooo large they can't pull it out of the ground. They utilize the help of all the farm animals one by one to heave and tug but still it won't come up. The wife thinks of a creative solution that does the trick and everyone enjoys the "fruit" of their labors in the end :).

My 4.5 year old loves this book. He sat through it with interest & anticipation. I recommend this for your collection!

My 3 year old loves this book, we ordered one for a friend as well. She never gets tired of it. This was one of our local library's picks and my daughter loved it so much we bought it for home. Classic story with a cute lesson learned at the end. Beautiful and interesting illustrations.

Such a cute book with excellent pictures and a silly storyline.

I bought this book to do an activity about skip counting (legs, arms), but also it works for social studies about helping.

Wife's school kids will love it.

I am a primary school teacher, so I have ordered books for my child and for my class.Pros: Good for trying to recall information - my toddler could predict who will pull the turnip based on what we had read in the previous pages.Cons: There isn't much written about the turnip itself - what does it taste like, what can it be used for, why do they want to pull it out of the ground?

I picked it up last Year in Class to read to the Kids as a T.A. I was just keeping the class occupied while teach was busy. When she came back I had half the class up being Cats and Cows and Chicken Heaving a child off the floor who was being a Turnip. We all had a great laugh. So when it came round to growing topic again this year my teacher couldn't wait for me to do it again. The class loved it again. especially the falling on the floor in giggles. I have got to say it isn't as much fun with only 2 a bedtime though.

Lovely book

Wish I had found this a couple of years ago, my little boy would have enjoyed it as a 2 year old. He appreciates it now, but he is a little old for it,

Use to read to early years children. They loved it and enjoyed the illustrations.