Martha Blah Blah [Paperback]

Susan Meddaugh (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Something's wrong with Martha, the talking dog! She has eaten her daily bowl of alphabet soup, but when she opens her mouth to speak, strange sounds come out instead of words. Fortunately her nose still works, and she follows it to the source of the mystery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While Meddaugh's Martha Calling essentially reprised the hilarious Martha Speaks, this third volume teaches the talking dog new tricks. And, without losing entertainment value, it puts corporate strategies and deceptive ads in perspective for young audiences?no mean feat. After reminding readers that Martha requires daily helpings of alphabet soup to be able to speak, Meddaugh introduces a dilemma. Granny's Soup Company has fired 13 letter-crafters to cut costs ("Why do we need all those letters? This is soup, not school!"), and the resulting broth includes only half the alphabet. Suddenly Martha begins speaking gibberish, and when she tries to use the phone or order burgers at a drive-through, humans regard her with amusement, not amazement. Shocked, the chatty canine realizes that she's about to become "just another dog, scratching on the door to go out." Meddaugh appends asterisks to Martha's attempts to talk, helpfully translating "Wogo!" as "My words are gone!" Then, after building suspense with a careful balance of text, cartoons and voice-bubbles, the author-illustrator solves the predicament in a shrewd, witty way. The workers return to their jobs, the missing letters are restored and Martha learns that her family loves her, voice or no voice. Souperb. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 4-Fans of Martha Speaks (1992) and Martha Calling (1994, both Houghton) will be delighted by this third adventure of the talking canine. When Granny Flo inherits the company that makes the alphabet soup that enables Martha to speak, the woman immediately fires 13 of the 26 pasta letter makers for the sake of bigger profits. The elimination of these letters from the soup makes Martha's speech hilariously unintelligible. When the quick-thinking dog learns of the cuts from Alf Abbot (unemployed pasta man "A"), she uses her smarts to convince Granny Flo to put the missing letters back in the cans. Each brightly colored page is filled with the zaniness and dialogue balloons of the previous books. Older children will enjoy all the alphabetic wordplay and figuring out the missing letters with the help of the author's footnotes. Great fun!-Maura Bresnahan, Topsfield Town Library, MA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: HMH Books (March 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395901189
• ISBN-13: 978-0395901182
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for GOOD STONES (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining for kids AND adults!, October 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Martha Blah Blah (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to come across this book while searching for a birthday gift for a little friend of mine. I was intrigued by the title, picked it up, and then had to read the ENTIRE thing. What a fabulous book!

The words are clearly printed on a white background, the pictures are large and colorful, and the humor in what Martha says will keep readers of all ages entertained.

Not only does the story deal with standing up for what you need, but I found that I could use this in my practice as a speech-language pathologist. Martha, when she eats alphabet soup, gains the ability to speak because all the letters go into her brain instead of to her stomach. But when some letters are left out, she has trouble communicating. When she gets all her letters, she can communicate just fine. A lesson! Wow!

I've read a lot of children's books, and this is a gem. Don't miss it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Martha Blah Blah, August 8, 2000

By 

Carl Hurley (Clemson, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martha Blah Blah (Hardcover)

Martha Blah Blah is about a dog who can speak when she eats alphabet soup. With her new-found language, Martha has adventures, helps people and animals and learns new things. She does have a dilemma, but she overcomes it to save the day. The illustrations in this book enhance the story. The illustrator uses large watercolor images that are humorous and does a good job of showing what is going on in the story. The author uses words that make the book easy to understand and employs a large font so that they are easy to read. The author also includes footnotes in some parts of the book, which can draw the attention away from the illustrations to the footnotes. Without the footnotes, however, one would not be able to decipher what Martha is saying when she loses her voice. Even though the footnotes draw attention away from the illustrations one can have fun trying and decipher what Martha is saying and then the answer is at the bottom of the page. In a small way, the footnotes make one think while reading the book. I believe that this book is entertaining and sparks the imagination. Like most children' books, it has a happy ending, which makes the story even more likable. Overall, I think that Martha Blah Blah is an excellent children's book that deserves to be read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Martha Blah Blah, March 3, 2000

By 

Glenda T. Childress (Maryville, Tennessee, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Martha Blah Blah (Paperback)

Martha the talking dog is back in the third (and best) book of the series. Martha depends on Granny's Brand alphabet soup to enable her to talk, but when greedy Granny decides to cut costs by leaving out half of the alphabet, Martha is left incommunicado, until she finds a way to tweak Granny's corporate conscience into honoring her quality control standards! This book is a real killer-diller with kids aged 5-8, leaving them rolling on the rug at Martha's attempts to communicate with letters missing from her vocabulary. (This title is a Tennessee Volunteer Children's Choice nominee for 1999-00 and gets my students' votes for the award winner)