Mrs. McNosh and the Great Big Squash (Growing Tree) - Softcover

Weeks, Sarah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0694012025 ISBN 13: 9780694012022

Publisher: HarperFestival, 2000

Synopsis

Your 3-year-old loves the silliness of outrageous stories.

Tips for reading and sharing:

• Your child will also love Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash

• Ask your child to describe the story by looking at the pictures

• Make up other silly events that could happen in the story

About this title

About the Author:

Sarah Weeks has written more than fifty books for young readers. Some of her picture books include Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash, Sophie Peterman Tells the Truth!, and Glamourpuss. Her bestselling novel, So B. It, is a feature-length film starring Alfre Woodard and Talitha Bateman. Ms. Weeks visits thousands of students in elementary and middle schools across the country every year. She is also an adjunct professor in the prestigious MFA Writing for Children and Young Adults program at the New School. Sarah lives in Nyack, New York, with her husband, Jim Fyfe, and their dog, Mia. You can visit her online at www.sarahweeks.com.

Nadine Bernard Westcott has illustrated numerous books for children, including How to Grow a Picket Fence by Mary Louise Cuneo and two popular children's songs: There's a Hole in the Bucket and Over the River and Through the Wood. She has also illustrated another book in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series: I Can Tell by Touching by Carolyn Otto. Ms Westcott lives on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-KAAs soon as Mrs. Nelly McNosh pushes a seed into the soil, it starts to grow into a fat and bumpy squash. It rolls out of the garden flattening the cat, crashing through the clothesline, knocking over trash cans, and scaring the pants off two elderly gents. "Poor Nelly was worried./She said, 'Oh my gosh,/there's got to be some way/to slow down this squash." After wondering what to do with the huge vegetable, the woman has an idea. She scoops and scrapes all night long, and when morning comes, she is curled up in a chair sleeping in her new squash house. This simple plot does not develop the tensions or motivations needed for a satisfying story. Why, for example, did Mrs. McNosh work desperately all night long to make a new house? The rhyming text creates a lighthearted bounce, but some of the rhymes seem forced. The watercolor-and-ink cartoon illustrations provide humor and a clear sense of action and movement. Perhaps some young listeners will enjoy the silliness of a giant, out-of-control plant tamed for a cozy place to sleep, but the undeveloped story line will limit the book's general appeal.
Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperFestival
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0694012025
• ISBN 13: 9780694012022
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Westcott Nadine Bernard