The Great, Big, Enormous Turnip (review by M.A.)

Alexei Tolstoy, Helen Oxenbury (Illustrations)

Mammoth; New edition edition (Sep 18 1998)

Paperback: 28 pp $ 10,43

The Great, Big, Enormous Turnip is a lovely old story for children by Alexei Tolstoy, one of the most famous Russian writers of all times. This story shows that through cooperation and sustained effort, big problems can be solved and difficult aims can be achieved.

“Grow, grow little turnip, grow sweet. Grow, grow little turnip, grow strong”. These are the words that the old man, one of the main characters of the book, utters at the beginning of the story when he plants a little turnip. What he doesn’t imagine is that the vegetable will not only grow sweet and strong but also big, great and enormous! The impressive size of the vegetable makes it impossible for the old man to pull it up on his own, and consequently, he needs to look for help. This is the point from which the whole story develops, through a repetitive sequence of actions in which different characters, ranging from an old woman to a little mouse, help the old man with the onerous task of trying to pull the enormous turnip up. The simplicity of the vocabulary used by Tolstoy, and the predictability of the sequence of events make this story suitable and engaging for children of all ages, but especially for younger ones.

On the other hand, Helen Oxenbury’s humorous and fresh illustrations vividly portray the huge effort that all the characters make in order to pull the great turnip up. This makes the story wildly funny and fascinating for children.

Undoubtedly, in The Great, Big, Enormous Turnip, Tolstoy and Oxenbury show that it is not necessary to create a big, enormous story to engage children with reading, but that simplicity and humour can be the best combination to make a story absolutely charming and delightful for them.