Product Description

A story focusing on friendship and sharing. Cat, Duck and Squirrel live in an old white cabin. Every day Cat slices up some pumpkin, Squirrel stirs in some water and Duck tips in some salt to make perfect pumpkin soup. Everybody seems happy until the day Duck wants to do the stirring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37485 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Three friends, Duck, Squirrel and Cat, join together every evening to make pumpkin soup. Each has their own very important part to play in the process and the soup is always delicious. Then, one day, Duck decides he wants to stir the soup instead of adding the salt. This leads to a tremendous quarrel which ends with Duck leaving in a huff. At first Squirrel and Cat are unconcerned by his absence, but as time goes by they start to worry about what might have happened to their friend.

This is a witty, observant and highly original tale about the ups and downs of friendship by award-winning author-illustrator Helen Cooper. As in The Bear Under the Stairs and The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed, Helen Cooper has created a magical picture book from a familiar childhood occurrence. --Philippa Reece

Review
Cooper (The Boy Who Wouldn't Go to Bed, 1997, etc.) tries for a shaggy-dog story, whose details are less compelling than page after page of charmingly snug illustrations. Deep in the forest, in their squash-like abode, live three little creatures: a cat, a squirrel, and a duck. They are a harmonious trio, especially when they concoct their pumpkin soup. Cat dices the pumpkin, Squirrel stirs in the water, and Duck adds the all-important pipkin of salt. Then Duck decides to take over Squirrel's responsibilities. Squirrel tells him to take a hike, which the disgruntled Duck does. Without his touch with the salt, however, the soup is a disaster, and Cat and Squirrel just plain miss Duck. They set out to find him, fret, fuss, worry that he's been hurt, or worse, found new friends. When they don't find him, they return home crestfallen, where Duck is waiting. Both his earlier desertion and return fall woefully flat, but readers will be smitten with Cooper's smart and utterly disarming artwork. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
A story focusing on friendship and sharing. Cat, Duck and Squirrel live in an old white cabin. Every day Cat slices up some pumpkin, Squirrel stirs in some water and Duck tips in some salt to make perfect pumpkin soup. Everybody seems happy until the day Duck wants to do the stirring.

Customer Reviews

`Cat, Squirrel and Duck are three friends who make pumpkin soup together every day.....
they always do it the same way, until little Duck thinks he's got a better idea.....'

I was captivated by the book corner at a recent primary class I visited, in connection with helping young children cook as part of my course.
`Pumpkin Soup' was the source book and `the corner' was alive with the green and gold shades of Autumn, and pictures/poems about the three lovable characters, with some amazing attention to detail even down to the bag-pipes!
It proved an excellent platform for a project and the children couldn't hide their delight in acting out their little pieces - it sure brought a tear to the eye.
I particularly noticed the flow of lively replacements for the word, `said', which the children really emphasised with apparent ease - e.g. `squeaked', `snapped', `stormed', `scoffed', `muttered', `sniffed', `wept', `whispered' and `yelped', and these words followed through into the written work too.

The 32 high quality page book is a beautifully illustrated, well written tale with a distinct message - sharing and compromise - and don't we all know how difficult that can be at certain ages?

Simply delightful book and guaranteed to be a regular choice from the bookshelf!

A father's perspective
I am determined that I will do what I can to enable my children to enjoy reading as much as I do. These are testing times as kids TV and DVDs are far better than when I was a lad. That makes me sound old. I'm not. I'm 37 and a barrister. Because of my job I don't read too much for fun as I spend so much of my working time reading.

I decided from the outset that I would try to purchase books for my kids that I would like to read. That way I enjoy reading the stories and they pick up on my enthusiasm. Helen Cooper's books are really very good and this is my favourite. I should also say that my 2 year old daughter also loves it ! My view has nothing to do with the fact that the author looks quite foxy !

Pumpkin Soup
This was the second book to totally captivate my son, who is now three and still adores it. The first book was Helen Cooper's 'The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed', which is still a firm favourite. The illustrations are works of art and draw you effortlessly into the story. Helen Cooper has turned my once book shy son into one eager little book worm.