The Magic Porridge Pot: A Viking Easy-to-read Classic (Viking Easy-to-read. Level 1) - Hardcover

Ziefert, Harriet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670868116 ISBN 13: 9780670868117

Publisher: Viking Childrens Books, 1997

Synopsis

Using a magic word, a little girl can have her fill of porridge anytime as the magic pot will simply fill up for her, but when her mother tries to do the same thing without the use of the magic word, her results are very different.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

With beginning readers in mind, Ziefert (The Tweeny-Tiny Woman, 1995, etc.) retells the traditional story of the magic pot that won't stop cooking in this entry in the Easy-to-Read series. This time, it is a little girl who saves her mother and the town from a flood of porridge by remembering the right combination of words to shout at the pot. Simple drawings showing a contemporary setting are only part of the recasting process this folktale has undergone. Repeated words and short lines will encourage new readers, and for that, the book is useful. It's just not much fun; the confines of the form, worked to such advantage by Minarik, Lobel, and Rylant (and Nola Buck--see review, above), make for a flat-footed telling here, and since most children know a version of the tale, there's no suspense to engage them. (Fiction/folklore. 4- 7) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2. Straightforward retellings of classic tales, written for beginning readers. Henny-Penny is the better of the two because of its fast-paced linear plot and repetitive language. The Magic Porridge Pot, set in today's world, is more complex. The subtle differences in the right and wrong commands ("Little pot, cook" and "Cook, little pot") and lack of repetitive words and phrases require children to have better reading and comprehension skills. Though there are certainly context clues in the full-color illustrations in both books, the style is flat, and the pictures don't capitalize on the opportunity to enhance the stories. Additional purchases for libraries with large beginning-to-read collections.?Gale W. Sherman, Pocatello Public Library, ID
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0670868116
• ISBN 13: 9780670868117
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Bolam Emily