PICKIN' PEAS
by Margaret Read--Adapt. MacDonald & illustrated by Pat Cummings
This down-home retelling of a southern folktale features a spirited little girl and the rascally rabbit who eats her carefully grown and tended peas. Little Girl becomes fed up with the rabbit’s appetite for her prized pods, so she captures him, but he’s too clever to be held for long. He entertains—and outsmarts—the girl for his freedom, but readers know that the two will continue to play this game for a long time to come. A perfect read-aloud, this story brims with rhythm and energy. Cummings’s characters have as much personality as the text itself, while MacDonald (The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle, 1995, etc.) includes suggestions for storytellers and a tune to sing the story to. Contributing to the fun is a design that makes clever use of three colors of text to distinguish the voices, encouraging participation in this entertaining tale. (Picture book/folklore. 5-8)