On a cold, snowy day, a young girl and her mother shop to buy ingredients for vegetable soup. At home, they work together—step by step—to prepare the meal. While the soup is cooking, they spend the time playing games and reading. Before long, Daddy's home and the family sits down to enjoy a home made dinner. This book celebrates the importance of making a nutritious meal and sharing in the process.
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2–On a snow-speckled day, a mother and daughter approach the greenmarket as the child announces, "Today is soup day." With economical text and vivid, multitextured collages whose upbeat charm belies their sophistication, the process of preparing the dish unfolds. In one spread, Iwai cleverly offers lessons about numbers, colors, sizes, textures, and what various vegetables look like. "This is what we put in our basket: One bunch of crispy green celery. Two shiny yellow onions….Six big white mushrooms. Ooops! We almost forgot the parsley." Back at home, mother and daughter cut up and cook the vegetables, and, while the soup simmers, read together, build a city out of blocks, hide from a monster, and have a tea party. Then they add seasoning and the girl's choice of pasta. While the alphabet noodles cook, it's cleanup time. Daddy's home, and the family eats soup together. The recipe is included. A perfect meal and a perfect book.Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
From Booklist
One snowy soup day, a little girl helps her mother choose vegetables at the store, wash them, and even chop them (I get to cut the mushrooms and zucchini with a plastic knife because they are soft. Mommy helps my hand). Then, while the soup simmers on the stove, they play and read together. After Mommy adds spices, the girl chooses pasta to add to the pot. They put away the toys and books, Dad comes home, and they all eat soup together. The recipe for Snowy Day Vegetable Soup is appended. Pleasing in its simplicity of concept and expression, this picture book tells of everyday places and activities from the child’s point of view. The brightly colored illustrations—combining acrylics, fabric and paper collage, and digital elements—offer plenty of familiar concepts for young children to identify and new ones to explore, such as six kinds of pasta pictured on one page. Satisfying for reading aloud. Preschool-Grade 1. --Carolyn Phelan
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By S. Blonder
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I rarely write reviews for anything but when you find a great book, you feel like you want to share it with the world! The illustrations are gorgeous and engaging for kids and my daughter is mesmerized everytime we open the book (which is nightly because she constantly chooses it for bedtime storytime). In addition to showing kids the joy and delicious pleasure of cooking, it teaches them about colors, shapes and numbers in a totally fun way. My daughter is learning to count from this book. A recipe for the soup is included at the end that we're definitely going to try, now that my daughter has memorized this adorable book. I definitely plan to give this book as a gift to other kids because it's really a little treasure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Marmee
Format:Hardcover
I pulled this book for a possible storytime read aloud and was pleasantly suprised to find that this book has much more to offer than what first meets the eye.
There are very subtle and non-preachy skill builders at work here. Contained within the text are gems like learning to choose the freshest and brightly colored veggies, counting, shapes and colors, using a plastic knife with Mom to safely cut soft things like mushrooms to "help" cook, the different types of pasta (great vocabulary!), and even suggestions for Mom on things to play while the soup cooks - all of this is done in simple text and without the saccharine sweetness or teachy voice that can turn things sour while reading out loud to children. The story is simple, engaging, and perfect for the younger set. I would read this book to children from ages 2-6, though older siblings would certainly enjoy helping to prepare the soup recipe at the end.
For those of us of a Waldorf/Montessori turn of mind, I can safely say, this book would be a good fit. The home life skills and ideas would not be out of place and many Waldorf kindergartens have a soup day of their own. The pages are also sturdy for little hands.
There are very subtle and non-preachy skill builders at work here. Contained within the text are gems like learning to choose the freshest and brightly colored veggies, counting, shapes and colors, using a plastic knife with Mom to safely cut soft things like mushrooms to "help" cook, the different types of pasta (great vocabulary!), and even suggestions for Mom on things to play while the soup cooks - all of this is done in simple text and without the saccharine sweetness or teachy voice that can turn things sour while reading out loud to children. The story is simple, engaging, and perfect for the younger set. I would read this book to children from ages 2-6, though older siblings would certainly enjoy helping to prepare the soup recipe at the end.
For those of us of a Waldorf/Montessori turn of mind, I can safely say, this book would be a good fit. The home life skills and ideas would not be out of place and many Waldorf kindergartens have a soup day of their own. The pages are also sturdy for little hands.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By hrabie
Format:Hardcover
My two-year-old really loves this book and sometimes asks me to read it 5 or 6 times in a row! It's also enjoyable for me to read. It's educational but sweet at the same time - not too silly like some children's books or too simple. It deals with everyday life in a sweet heartwarming way that is also educational and fun. Shopping for ingredients, preparing them, and playing while waiting for the soup to cook are all presented. We love it. The author could turn this into a series, perhaps including ethnic and/or American regional cuisines, since food is such a big part of imparting cultural heritage.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Emily K
Format:Hardcover
My daughter is three years old, and she loves this book! It is her favorite book at the moment--she even carries it around in her little backpack. She also likes to "read" it herself by looking at the pictures.
I like it, too. The story is short and engaging, and the illustrations are simple and interesting.
And it's great that there's a recipe at the end of the book, because after reading the story, you'll want to try the soup!
I like it, too. The story is short and engaging, and the illustrations are simple and interesting.
And it's great that there's a recipe at the end of the book, because after reading the story, you'll want to try the soup!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By bassgiraffe
Format:Hardcover
Did you know that January is national soup month? I'd like to share with you a great children's book called "Soup Day" by Melissa Iwai.
I love this book from top to bottom. Each page is colorful, and fun to just look at. The story takes us through a day of making soup. From shopping to chopping and enjoying it.
I love that this book teaches kids about eating healthy and how to pick out the healthy foods. Another great point of this book is it helps with counting and shapes. I also enjoy the fact that the child and mom are spending the day together. I feel in this day and age we forget to spend time with our kids and this book not only shows it but shows the family spending time together being healthy.
At the end of the book is the recipe of the soup made in the book. And ti sounds mmmmmm so good.
This book seems to think of everything, I love that the corners are rounded making it friendly for your little one to handle and not worry about them poking themselves. WOW.
I recommend this book to all families. Encourages healthy family time and includes leaning aspects.
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* Disclaimer / Disclosure: I received a free sample to facilitate my review. This post reflects my honest, personal opinion and experience with the product which may differ from yours. Product information courtesy of the sponsor. No monetary compensation was provided for this post.
I love this book from top to bottom. Each page is colorful, and fun to just look at. The story takes us through a day of making soup. From shopping to chopping and enjoying it.
I love that this book teaches kids about eating healthy and how to pick out the healthy foods. Another great point of this book is it helps with counting and shapes. I also enjoy the fact that the child and mom are spending the day together. I feel in this day and age we forget to spend time with our kids and this book not only shows it but shows the family spending time together being healthy.
At the end of the book is the recipe of the soup made in the book. And ti sounds mmmmmm so good.
This book seems to think of everything, I love that the corners are rounded making it friendly for your little one to handle and not worry about them poking themselves. WOW.
I recommend this book to all families. Encourages healthy family time and includes leaning aspects.
--------------------------------
* Disclaimer / Disclosure: I received a free sample to facilitate my review. This post reflects my honest, personal opinion and experience with the product which may differ from yours. Product information courtesy of the sponsor. No monetary compensation was provided for this post.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By J. Elliott
Format:Hardcover
The pictures are extremely well done and quirky. The book focuses on a girl who looks to be Asian and her presumably adoptive white mother as they prepare a meal together. I love that the protagonists in the story are an underrepresented population of society. This is obviously not the focus of the book, but it does add something special in my opinion.
This book is a great find for younger children. Kids will be drawn in by the pictures and will think it's fun to see the pictures of the foods that are being added as well as to hear them pronounced (vegetables, spices, various kinds of pasta). In a very subtle way, it builds extra vocabulary for the younger kiddos. It will also help that there may be prior knowledge about certain parts of the book - a young child would possibly be able to relate to seeing a parent cooking, playing with a parent, and having to put things away.
This is the perfect read for a parent and child to bond together, and there is even a recipe for Snowy Day Vegetable Soup at the back of the book if the kids are interested in actually cooking with a parent.
This book is a great find for younger children. Kids will be drawn in by the pictures and will think it's fun to see the pictures of the foods that are being added as well as to hear them pronounced (vegetables, spices, various kinds of pasta). In a very subtle way, it builds extra vocabulary for the younger kiddos. It will also help that there may be prior knowledge about certain parts of the book - a young child would possibly be able to relate to seeing a parent cooking, playing with a parent, and having to put things away.
This is the perfect read for a parent and child to bond together, and there is even a recipe for Snowy Day Vegetable Soup at the back of the book if the kids are interested in actually cooking with a parent.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!
I loved the story & great info. in this book. I purchased it because it was written & illustrated by Melissa Iwai. I had Missy in 1st grade many, many years ago! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Jobi
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vegetable Soup
On a lazy day in winter, a young girl makes soup with her mother. She helps to pick out and wash the vegetables. Read more
Published on January 6, 2011 by Catherine W. Hughes
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