No Dinner!: The Story of the Old Woman and the Pumpkin

by Jessica Souhami (Illustrator)

Overview

An old woman sets off through the forest to visit her granddaughter, when "Boo!" – one by one, out jump a hungry fox, a hungry bear and a hungry tiger. The old woman escapes by telling them she'll taste even better on the way back, once she's eaten her dinner. But later on, at her granddaughter's, she wonders what to do... Jessica Souhami uses the brilliant colours of India to illustrate her vibrant retelling of a traditional story known all over Southern Asia.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845078188
Publisher:	Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication date:	07/24/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	AD470L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jessica Souhami studied at the Central School of Art and Design. In 1980 she formed Mme Souhami and Co, a travelling puppet company using colourful shadow puppets with a musical accompaniment and a storyteller. Her illustrations, like her puppets, use brilliant colour and bold shapes and her characters leap and swoop across the spreads. Her books for Frances Lincoln are Sausages!, Foxy!, The Strongest Boy in the World, In the Dark, Dark Wood, Baba Yaga and the Stolen Baby, Leopard's Drum, No Dinner!, Rama and the Demon King, The Famous Adventures of a Bird Brained Hen, The Little, Little House, Mrs McCool and the Giant Cuchulainn, The Sticky Doll Trap, and King Pom and the Fox. Jessica lives in North London.

Editorial Reviews

The traditional tale of how an old woman tricks the greedy animals not once but twice is wittily retold in Jessica Souhami's lively text and beautiful illustrations. On the way through the forest to visit her granddaughter the old lady sees off the animals by telling them that she's too thin and bony to be worth eating. To save herself on the way back, she hides in a pumpkin and rolls her way home. Even when she is rumbled by the wolf, she has one last trick up her sleeve. A celebration of bravery and sharp wits.

From the Publisher

An unusual pumpkin does double duty as both delectable dish and handy disguise in this retelling of an Indian folktale. Feeling especially frail and thin, an old woman longs to visit her granddaughter, but a forest filled with vicious, hungry animals separates the two. When she can wait no longer, the old woman decides to make the perilous trip anyhow. Along the way, she convinces a tiger, a bear and a fox that, being as thin as she is, she wouldn't be worth eating; the animals should wait to eat her on the way home when she'll be "nice and fat." The woman arrives safely at her granddaughter's and feasts until she is satiated and plump. For safety's sake, the granddaughter suggests that the woman hide in an enormous, hollowed-out pumpkin and roll her way home. The squash suit (and some quick-thinking) serve the woman well, leaving the forest animals with no dinner. Souhami's (The Black Geese) watercolor-and-charcoal compositions--grainy-textured swatches of color, with characters often peeking out from unusual perspectives--give a tale with a familiar feel some snap. Ages 5-8. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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