Customer Reviews

Maybelle in the Soup

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What spunk! Maybelle takes on a rollicking adventure "because a cockroach may not get exactly what a cockroach wants, but you can't blame her for trying."
Mrs. Speck's delightful choice of words captivates the reader while combining humor and the hair-raising exploits of this likeable cockroach. Young readers will not be able to put this book down until the final page, and in addition, what a perfect read-aloud for librarians, teachers and parents!
Underlying all, the true meaning of friendship permeates throughout the tale.
Upon conclusion the reader is left avidly anticipating more tales of this unique little character.

My kids and I giggled through the whole book, and laughed so hard in a few spots we had to put it down to compose ourselves. The comedy is so physical you can almost see it as a movie, and the illustrations add a whole new light to it. This is more than a story about a bug. It's a story about setting goals and going for it, as well as a tale about friendship loyalty. Maybelle is one book I can read again and again to my kids.

I read this book with my 6 year old daughter and we loved it! It was fun and the concepts were easy enough for her to understand, as well as, she was able to enjoy the lessons put forth about true friendship.

Maybelle will steal your leftovers and your heart. Kids will love her and her pal Henry the flea.

Speck, Katie, Maybelle in the Soup, Henry Holt and Company, 2007

Maybelle is a cockroach that lives under the refrigerator in the home of Myrtle and Herbert Peabody who like "everything to be JUST SO. No dust, no mess, and absolutely, positively NO BUGS." Maybelle "obeys The Rules: When it's light, stay out of sight; if you're spied, better hide; and most important of all, never meet with human feet." Maybelle who loved to eat was "tired of crumbs and spills" and desired "tasty" food and she wanted to eat that food off a plate. Her friend Henry the flea "lived and dined on the Peabody's cat and warned Maybelle, "If the Peabodys see you, they'll call the Bug Man." One day, the Peabody's have some guests over for dinner and Maybelle ends up in the soup; the antics go on in this amusing first chapter book as the Peabodys call in the Bug Man and move into a hotel. Mostly black and white illustrations mirror the humor of the story; in the style of the Jack Sprat nursery rhyme, Mr. and Mrs. Peabody are respectively large and thin. Maybelle wears a bright pink bow on the top of her head and a necklace around her neck and manages to look cute; in one illustration she looks quite bedraggled as she hangs from the cat's paw and in another, she sits on a spoon in front of a pair of eyes that look clearly outraged. Henry, a bloated grey blob is Maybelle's sidekick so he only appears in a few pictures; in one he hangs out with Maybelle under the refrigerator "as Mrs. Peabody's dreadful big feet moved around the kitchen." This story's entertaining, easy text will delight young readers.