The Gulps [Hardcover]

Rosemary Wells (Author), Marc Brown (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

With their trademark wit and wisdom, Rosemary Wells and Marc Brown present a groundbreaking?and side-splittingly slapstick!?story which introduces the importance of healthy habits. When a fast-food fanatic family of bunnies set out vacation, they pack their RV full of TVs, Jiffy Chips, and Winky Twinks. But when the weighed-down vehicle wheezes to a halt in the middle of nowhere, Farmer Spratt saves the day by showing the Gulps the value of a fresh, home-cooked meal and the lasting benefits of physical activity. The Gulps' transformation is sure to inspire a generation of super-sized kids?and parents?to turn over a new leaf!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2—A paean to healthful eating and physical fitness. Sadly, too many youngsters resemble the overweight Gulps, who are undeniably human, despite Brown's signature bunny ears. The family is headed for a theme park in their RV filled with televisions and junk food. When the vehicle breaks down, the youngest child recognizes that it is overloaded. The only trim person in the family, Dawn enjoys vegetables and is in heaven when a neighborly man, Farmer Spratt, invites them into his home. However, the others are miserable; their bodies prevent them from doing even the simplest tasks. While these couch potatoes welcome an outing to a county fair with deep-fried treats, the reality of their physical condition hits home. A dance platform and a wagon collapse under their weight, and the waterslide must close after they get stuck. Redemption for the Gulps comes in the form of exercise and sensible eating with vacation plans switched to a hike up "Mount Dauntless." Brown's busily patterned cartoons in confectionery colors with cotton-candy clouds humorously depict the rotund characters in this tongue-in-cheek tale. For group sharing where obvious parallels could prove hurtful to an overweight child, consider Bernard Waber's equally humorous and more subtle Fast Food! Gulp! Gulp! (Houghton, 2001).—Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The Gulp family's Dizzyworld vacation takes a detour when their overburdened RV stops and won't budge. The supersized junk-food junkies--Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister--are baffled, though slim little sister Dawn, who prefers salads to shakes, declares, "This family's too fat to roll!" Only Dawn appreciates the salad supper offered by kindly Farmer Spratt, but after getting stuck on the county-fair waterslide and experiencing a few similar difficulties, the Gulps realize that they have to get fit to get rolling again. The characters are rabbits humorously outfitted like humans, and the scenes are stuffed with playful details to catch the eye. Wells' message, though couched in silliness and humor, is still obvious; the story may even make some kids feel self-conscious. But in the end, there's no teasing going on; the focus is squarely on the limitations overweight people may experience and the benefits of nutritional eating and activity. A cautionary yet supportive book that highlights an important issue. Shelle Rosenfeld
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316014605
• ISBN-13: 978-0316014601
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 0.4 x 12.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in New York City, Rosemary Wells grew up in a house "filled with books, dogs, and nineteenth-century music." Her childhood years were spent between her parents' home near Red Bank, New Jersey, and her grandmother's rambling stucco house on the Jersey Shore. Most of her sentimental memories, both good and bad, stem from that place and time. Her mother was a dancer in the Russian Ballet, and her father a playwright and actor. Mrs. Wells says, "Both my parents flooded me with books and stories. My grandmother took me on special trips to the theater and museums in New York. "Rosemary Wells's career as an author and illustrator spans more than 30 years and 60 books. She has won numerous awards, and has given readers such unforgettable characters as Max and Ruby, Noisy Nora, and Yoko. She has also given Mother Goose new life in two enormous, definitive editions, published by Candlewick. Wells wrote and illustrated Unfortunately Harriet, her first book with Dial, in 1972. One year later she wrote the popular Noisy Nora. "The children and our home life have inspired, in part, many of my books. Our West Highland white terrier, Angus, had the shape and expressions to become Benjamin and Tulip, Timothy, and all the other animals I have made up for my stories." Her daughters Victoria and Beezoo were constant inspirations, especially for the now famous "Max" board book series. "Simple incidents from childhood are universal," Wells says. "The dynamics between older and younger siblings are common to all families."But not all of Wells' ideas come from within the family circle. Many times when speaking, Mrs. Wells is asked where her ideas come from. She usually answers, "It's a writer's job to have ideas." Sometimes an idea comes from something she reads or hears about, as in the case of her recent book, Mary on Horseback, a story based on the life of Mary Breckenridge, who founded the Frontier Nursing Service. Timothy Goes to School was based on an incident in which her daughter was teased for wearing the wrong clothes to a Christmas concert. Her dogs, west highland terriers, Lucy and Snowy, work their way into her drawings in expression and body position. She admits, "I put into my books all of the things I remember. I am an accomplished eavesdropper in restaurants, trains, and gatherings of any kind. These remembrances are jumbled up and changed because fiction is always more palatable than truth. Memories become more true as they are honed and whittled into characters and stories."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Appalled, June 26, 2007

By 

Leisa A. Clark (St Petersburg, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gulps (Hardcover)

I am simply appalled at the message in this book. At a time when scientists and doctors are starting to realize that DIETING is more dangerous than being overweight and that the psychological damage being done to overweight children who are teased and forced to diet all the time becomes a lifelong self-hatred, why would any author want to reinforce the stereotype with children? Fat-hatred is still an acceptable prejudice in this culture because of the prevailing ideology that "fat people are just lazy and eat junk food while watching TV" - the same message in this book! I like the author, so I got the book and then I was heart-sick reading it. Books like this just contribute to the problem - they don't solve it or help it at all.

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars um... really?, June 26, 2007

By 

Stacy Bias - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Gulps (Hardcover)

Holy mother of all that is over-simplified, socially irresponsible and blindly bigoted. If there was a patron saint for this book, it would be the pious, over-schmaltzed offspring of Richard Simmons and Pat Robertson. I realize that simplifying concepts for children is the way to help them establish a baseline of understanding, but come ON. What fat child, seeing his or herself in these pages, regardless of the eating or excercise habits of his or her family, is going to walk away with any feeling other than self-loathing? Wouldn't a better example be to show children of all sizes, shapes, colors and abilities, engaging in enjoyable physical activity together? I agree that healthful activity and a diet (as in, the sum total of what we eat, not as in an unsustainable and doomed-to-failure system based on deprivation) that includes leafy greens is a wonderful thing. But what of the families who can't afford a well-rounded menu? What of children who *are* active, and who *do* eat their veggies, and who *don't* over-induldge and who are *still* fat?

There have always been fat people. There will always be fat people. The "one of these things is not like the other" system of compare and contrast only continues to create divides between communities, and within our own selves. And just as many thin folks live sedentary lives as fat folks. Fitness and Fatness are NOT mutually exclusive.

Parents - LOVE your children. Encourage them in positive ways to be active and to treat themselves and their bodies lovingly. Nurture positive eating habits. Do not SHAME your children. Do not shame yourself in FRONT of your children! Lead by a positive example of self-love and empowerment. Do not villainize food - this only creates compulsion! And most of all, do NOT buy this book!

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If the Goal of this book was to promote prejudice, I would give it 5 stars, June 26, 2007

By 

JennMars (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gulps (Hardcover)

Would Amazon sell a book that so blatantly uses cultural stereotypes of any group other than fat people?

The author, illustrator (Marc Brown, how could you) and publishers should be ashamed of themselves for reinforcing our deeply-ingrained societal prejudices about body size. As another reviewer said, it's a good thing to promote healthy eating and exercising by people of all sizes; I'm all in favor of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. But it's no more healthy for my slim nieces and nephews to eat nothing but french fries, ice cream and chicken fingers than it is for the Gulps to do the same. I suspect that most kids will read this book and think "gee, it's a good thing I'm not fat so I can eat whatever I want." And I doubt that's what the author had in mind.