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Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-6–For those who love Radunsky's flamboyantly ribald sense of humor, are comfortable with chaos, and accepting of Italian Renaissance art delivered out of context and edited mischievously, this variant of the classic tale "The Turnip" is great fun. It is set in Italy in 1602, the year an enormous stalk of asparagus grew in the king's yard. A combined effort by the monarch, the queen, a rhinoceros, the bravest knight, the princess, and Tiny Little Bird succeeds in dislodging it. "And the humongous, stupendous, splendid, catastrophic vegetable collapsed!" Not much in the text or illustrations makes sense but both scream for attention. The old masters might not be pleased with Radunsky's schoolboy tendency to exaggerate their subjects' noses or white out their eye sockets to fill them in with slightly crossed bug eyes. Part of the book's mischief involves a seemingly mindless inclusion of phallic images. Adolescent? Oh yeah. And no wonder, considering that the artist says he was 13 years old in 1602 according to the book-jacket notes. It's all very amusing, but will children get it? Yes! The lowbrow humor, the blind silliness, and the quirky exaggerations are childishness itself. For older children there is the appeal of random sarcasm and funky, distorted illustrations.–Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Interpretations of the Russian folktale "The Enormous Turnip" (see Tatiana Zunshine's book, p.1622), are legion, but Radunsky's may elicit some furrowed brows. A giant asparagus appears in the courtyard of a king, who despises it; eventually, a small bird succeeds in toppling it after all others fail. The book concludes with a foldout revealing the veggie behemoth surrounded by characters and their elegiac musings ("Such a huge asparagus it was, and now it's fallen and beaten down"). Readers older than the story's usual picture-book-age audience will probably most appreciate Radunsky's gonzo storytelling style, but the text is really just a vehicle for eye-popping visuals, a pastiche of Italian Renaissance people and other elements nicked from actual paintings. An author's note acknowledges artists such as Lorenzetti, Piero della Francesca, and Mantegna, but, unfortunately, no master list is given for the numerous individual paintings that are referenced. Creative educators might make this flaw into a virtue, though, by encouraging students to use library resources to trace Radunsky's inspirations. Younger groups studying folktales should stick with retellings like Jan Peck's The Giant Carrot (1998); pull this out for sophisticated older kids (and college-age art students), who will get the most out of the armchair museum tour. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Grade 1-6–For those who love Radunsky's flamboyantly ribald sense of humor, are comfortable with chaos, and accepting of Italian Renaissance art delivered out of context and edited mischievously, this variant of the classic tale "The Turnip" is great fun. It is set in Italy in 1602, the year an enormous stalk of asparagus grew in the king's yard. A combined effort by the monarch, the queen, a rhinoceros, the bravest knight, the princess, and Tiny Little Bird succeeds in dislodging it. "And the humongous, stupendous, splendid, catastrophic vegetable collapsed!" Not much in the text or illustrations makes sense but both scream for attention. The old masters might not be pleased with Radunsky's schoolboy tendency to exaggerate their subjects' noses or white out their eye sockets to fill them in with slightly crossed bug eyes. Part of the book's mischief involves a seemingly mindless inclusion of phallic images. Adolescent? Oh yeah. And no wonder, considering that the artist says he was 13 years old in 1602 according to the book-jacket notes. It's all very amusing, but will children get it? Yes! The lowbrow humor, the blind silliness, and the quirky exaggerations are childishness itself. For older children there is the appeal of random sarcasm and funky, distorted illustrations.–Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Interpretations of the Russian folktale "The Enormous Turnip" (see Tatiana Zunshine's book, p.1622), are legion, but Radunsky's may elicit some furrowed brows. A giant asparagus appears in the courtyard of a king, who despises it; eventually, a small bird succeeds in toppling it after all others fail. The book concludes with a foldout revealing the veggie behemoth surrounded by characters and their elegiac musings ("Such a huge asparagus it was, and now it's fallen and beaten down"). Readers older than the story's usual picture-book-age audience will probably most appreciate Radunsky's gonzo storytelling style, but the text is really just a vehicle for eye-popping visuals, a pastiche of Italian Renaissance people and other elements nicked from actual paintings. An author's note acknowledges artists such as Lorenzetti, Piero della Francesca, and Mantegna, but, unfortunately, no master list is given for the numerous individual paintings that are referenced. Creative educators might make this flaw into a virtue, though, by encouraging students to use library resources to trace Radunsky's inspirations. Younger groups studying folktales should stick with retellings like Jan Peck's The Giant Carrot (1998); pull this out for sophisticated older kids (and college-age art students), who will get the most out of the armchair museum tour. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
An amazing asparagus grew right in the middle of the king's yard. Read the first page New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
An amazing asparagus grew right in the middle of the king's yard. Read the first page New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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