Watermelon Day [Hardcover]

Kathi Appelt (Author), Dale Gottlieb (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

There's a watermelon growing in the corner of the patch where the fence posts meet, and Jesse is waiting for it. Waiting for it to fill up with the cool summer rain and the hot summer sun. Waiting until at last it is ripe and ready for eating. Waiting until it is ready for her family's annual Watermelon day.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3?In this tale that celebrates both summertime and the magic of anticipation, young Jesse finds a watermelon in the corner of the garden. Her pappy agrees that it will be a big one, worthy of "a watermelon day." The mention of this annual family event fills Jesse with warm memories. As the season drags on and the heat intensifies, the girl begins to feel that "...she and her watermelon might both burst from the sheer waiting of it all." When her father finally declares that it looks like a watermelon day, readers may think the waiting is over. Not so. With a whole summer of heat inside it, the melon is set to cool off in the lake. Jesse waits patiently as hours of softball, banjo playing, and eating stretch by. Finally, Pappy's big fist splits the melon in half and Jesse experiences the moment that has been making her mouth water since spring. Gottlieb's primitive art shimmers with the intense colors of summer. Oil pastels and simple designs enhance the sense of childlike wonder. This book is a love song to a simple pleasure and to a little girl who enjoys it as only a child can, dancing her watermelon dance and spitting seeds into the setting sun.?Lisa S. Murphy, formerly at Dauphin County Library System, Harrisburg, PA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Patience, patience. That's what little Jesse must practice as she waits for her watermelon to ripen--a summertime lesson in delayed gratification. Jesse attends to the melon's needs, listens to it, pampers it. When the relatives come, Jesse must wait still longer as the melon surrenders its summer heat to a lake's cooling waters. Appelt (Bayou Lullaby, 1995, etc.) has a way with similes: In the heat, ``air wrinkled up like an unironed shirt'' and a long day ``stretched like a lazy ol' cat.'' There is a pleasurable tension running through the book: Patience is a hard-won virtue. Yet Jesse is admirably resolute, even when her yearning is nearly palpable. Gottlieb's childlike, fiercely two-dimensional illustrations do the story justice, in oil pastels that richly convey the torpor of a summer day and the sticky juices of the melon when it's finally cracked open. (Picture book. 5-7) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (March 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805023046
• ISBN-13: 978-0805023046
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute wonder..., May 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Watermelon Day (Hardcover)

I had the opportunity to listen to Kathi Appelt read this story aloud, and it was wonderful. By hearing the author read it the way she meant for it to be heard, it made this story magical and special. I immediately felt compelled to buy my own copy to share with others. It is a wonderful way of capturing a child's impatience, and captures the wonder of a summer day.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Watermelon, watermelon. It's a watermelon day!", July 17, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Watermelon Day (Hardcover)

Ah, the memories. When I was in the first grade in Orlando, Florida I took a watermelon seed and planted it in the little patch of earth between the front of the house and the sidewalk from the driveway. But then my father came back from Saudi Arabia on the last day of school (which is another story) and we moved to New Jersey and I never knew what happened to the watermelon seed that I planted, although just about every time I have watermelon I think back to that planted seed.

So I can identify with Jesse, who is impatiently waiting for the watermelon growing in the corner of the patch where the fence posts meet. That is because at the end of the summer is the family's annual "Watermelon Day." That is a big day for Jesse's family when cousins show up, her mom makes peach ice cream, Uncle Ike brings his banjo, and lots of softball gets played. Then, at the end of the day to top everything off, there is ice-cold watermelon to be enjoyed from the biggest one in the patch.

Kathi Appelt's "Watermelon Day," illustrated by Dale Gottlieb, follows Jesse's long summer of waiting for that watermelon to grow. Repeatedly Jesse asks "How much longer, Pappy?" and he patiently explains how long the process is, although Jesse is pretty sure that both she and the watermelon might burst from the sheer waiting of it all. Even on the final day there is much waiting to be endured before finally getting to eat a melon that is as sweet as the summer rain and a nighttime song.

"Watermelon Day" is a nice little story that shows the virtue of waiting patiently for something. Okay, maybe not exactly waiting patiently, but at least waiting without being totally annoying. Obviously this is a great book for those growing their first watermelon, but the idea that some things take time to happen is a lesson worth learning even if it involves something other than watermelons. This is another good effort from Appelt, who is a poet as well as a writer of children's books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes your mouth water!, June 25, 2010

By 

DeeDee Fox "Dee Dee Fox" (Rapid City, SD, US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Watermelon Day (Hardcover)

Watermelon Day is the tale of a young girl and the summer in which she waits patiently for the seed she plants to grow into a watermelon. Images of long summers and endless hot days are depicted in a simplistic style which will appeal to young children. The anticipation of that first cool, sweet bite of watermelon nearly makes your mouth water as you reach the end of the book. Illustrations by Dale Gottlieb are paired well with this author's lovely childhood picture book.

~DeeDee Fox, Author of The Ruby Red Slippers