Two for Stew [Paperback]

Laura Numeroff (Author), Barney Saltzberg (Author), Salvatore Murdocca (Illustrator)

Book Description

What do a bowling grandmother, a busload of tourists from Spain, and a noodle-eating poodle have in common? They are all in search of the perfect stew in this wacky and wonderful rhyming picture book by the best-selling author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff, and musical composer Barney Saltzberg.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Chez Stew runs out of its specialty, a woman and her white poodle take off with their waiter in search of the desired dish. PW said, "This stew has flavor enough to sate an appetite for a good romp." Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Theater lights and toe-tapping rhythm are almost a part of this lilting text made of rhyming quatrains. A young woman takes her poodle to a big-city restaurant that's famous for its "chunky, yet creamy" stew. Alas, the restaurant is out of it. The waiter tries to entice her with other mouth-watering entrees, to no avail. He finally confesses that his grandma makes the stew from an old recipe, and the customer pleads, "We just never knew./Can we go to her house/And ask for some stew?" He agrees, but before they can leave on his motorcycle, they see grandma heading for the bowling alley in her 1950's purple Cadillac convertible and take off after her. The text rollicks along with different fonts effectively representing the conversations of the young woman and the waiter. Murdocca has made this selection a feast for the eyes. The stylized watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations depict New York City streets and buildings. A chorus line of chef/angels against a city skyline backdrop promotes the colorful imagery. Two for Stew must be shared aloud. It would be great read by an older girl and boy to primary groups. This book has all the trappings of a Broadway musical.
Betty Teague, Blythe Academy of Languages, Greenville, SC
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689829442
• ISBN-13: 978-0689829444
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,497,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laura Numeroff grew up in Brooklyn, with her mother, father and two older sisters. Her house was filled with books, art, music and folk dancing.

She attended Pratt Institute and graduated with a degree in communications and a contract for her first children's book, AMY FOR SHORT, published in 1975 by Macmillan.

A New York Times best-selling children's book author, Laura is best known for the series based on her book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. First printed in 1985, "Mouse" is in its 40th printing. The fourth book in the series, IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES was on the New York Times Children's Best Seller list for five months- nine weeks at number one.

Publisher's Weekly listed IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO THE MOVIES as the number two book for children in 2000 (Harry Potter was number one) and at one point, Laura had three books on the New York Times Bestseller List in the same week.

In 2000, IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE was featured on the Oprah show three times, and was recommended by Oprah's first kids' book club, as well as being noted as Oprah's favorite children's book of the year on her Christmas show. "PIG" was also on Publisher's Weekly Bestseller List for over a year. In addition, the series has sold over 4.5 million copies, been printed in fourteen languages, and won the prestigious Quill Award in the picture book category.

Some of Laura's other books currently in print are: WHAT MOMMIES DO BEST/WHAT DADDIES DO BEST, DOGS DON'T WEAR GLASSES, THE CHICKEN SISTERS, WHY A DISGUISE? The first two books in Laura's JELLYBEANS book series made the New York Times Best Seller List.

Hillary Clinton, President Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush have all read Laura's books to kids. First Lady Michelle Obama, her mother, her daughters, Malia and Sasha read Laura's book at the 2010 Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn. Laura was one of ten children's authors invited to a literacy day in Washington during the Bush administration in 2001. She has also visited over 100 elementary schools and has been a speaker at teacher conferences around the country.

Laura donates book sales to FIRST BOOK, a non-profit organization that provides brand new books to children who otherwise would not have access to them. She has also donated all royalties from THE HOPE TREE- KIDS TALK OUT ABOUT BREAST CANCER, to the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Laura has appeared on The Today show twice as well as Good Morning America. On her December 13th, 2000 appearance on The Today Show, Laura donated 500 Mouse mini-books with doll ornaments to the show's toy drive.

When not writing, Laura takes tennis lessons (she says she's not very good but loves it anyway), reads to children in hospitals and foster homes and calls herself a book and movie fanatic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensational Pictures Amid A Madcap Story!, July 29, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Two For Stew (Hardcover)

Only the most talented authors and illustrators can successfully translate film genres into books for kids. Film noir is a recent favorite, but the styles and dialogues of early animated fairy tales and "Bowery Boy" films have also been emulated with mixed results. It's an alluring but tricky task, because the book must strike adults as reasonably authentic by retaining some of the original elements, while still appealing to the young--most of whom have no idea of the progenitor.

This book is an exceptionally well illustrated foray into 1930's screwball comedies. The setting and characters look like they come from that era, and the insouciant plot reminds one of the intelligent yet zany--hence "screwball"--comedies perfected decades ago. The book's closest model would be a Preston Sturges comedy (e.g., "The Lady Eve," "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek," ) noted for clever dialogue, likeable characters, and improbable plots. The current book is all about our crimped-hair heroine's quest for a bowl of stew from the corner restaurant. That's the entire plot. However, authors Laura Numeroff ("If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"), Barry Saltzberg, and, especially, illustrator Salvatore Murdocca turn this thin storyline into a dazzling Broadway production. Even the details show originality and attention to characterization: The rhyming dialogue between the woman and the restaurant host, for example, are set in different fonts: The woman's font, much like the woman, is direct, slender, and tall; the host's is a solicitous and evasive italic. (Unfortunately, the font won't reproduce here.)


I'll bring you a menu,
In a minute or two.

No need to bother.
We came for the stew.

There is no more stew,
I'm sorry to say.
We do have some noodles,
Will that be okay?

No, thank you, kind sir,
We never touch noodles.
They're messy to eat,
And not fit for poodles.


This last rhyme shows a picture of the woman's enormously furry poodle slurping noodles and tossing them about the cafe. This must be the fantasy sequence of the movie/book, for the woman clearly replies that neither she nor her poodle would consume a noodle. As the woman and dog peruse the menu while the elusive stew arrives at someone else's table, a picture window reveals tall buildings swaying, like the energized objects in a Disney picture. In the book's second fantasy sequence, a two page spread (replicated on the cover of the book) shows a Busby Berkeley melange of singer and dancing waiters and the woman and poodle flying against a lit up sky, with a Gotham city skyline, a giant oven with stew pot, and an airplane (trailing behind it a banner proclaiming "WONDERFUL STEW") in the background. It's a satire, just as "42nd Street" parodied itself, and it's one of the most magical and imaginative pictures I've seen in a kid's book. Although a few of the pictures aren't quite as glorious, most of the illustrations display Murdocca's shimmering palette, especially his blues and golds. His colors look like saturated tints, and his shadings (e.g., the tablecloths, the awnings) are luminous and sophisticated.

As it happens, the chef can't make more stew; it's actually made by the mother of the cafe host (this is definitely a Jimmy Stewart role). Jean Arthur (she'd fit, or perhaps Hepburn) and Jimmy ride on his motorcycle to grandmother's, only to find that she's just driven off for bowling. With the poodle in the sidecar, the two inevitable young lovers hop on the cyle and follow grandma as somewhat more modern-looking pedestrians point the way. The time machine effect is one of the protagonists living in their own screwball comedy of dawning love, surrounded by obliging but otherwise naiive modern-day urbanites... This wonderfully original book meets and surpasses the challenge of its film-into-book premise.

5.0 out of 5 stars Adorable, Madcap, and Sweet, August 20, 2011

By 

KelleySquared "K2" (Newington, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Two for Stew (Paperback)

This book is an early movie musical put to page as the leading lady and her poodle tangle with their earnest waiter for a bowl of creamy, dreamy stew. The illustrations are delightful and the sweet ending will make everyone but the most hard-hearted smile. My first grader and I both loved it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Two for Stew, a book made for two to curl up to., June 5, 2009

By 

A. Bidel "book mom" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Two For Stew (Hardcover)

This book is wonderful, after 6 years it is still my daughter's (now 9) favorite book. She checks it out from her school library so often I finally bought it for her and she now reads it to her little sister, the same way I read it to her, curled up on the couch.