It’s that time again . . . for October’s edition of Five Minutes for Books’ Kids’ Pick Carnival!

Of course, I have another Barefoot Book to share.  The one my daughter has been asking for constantly is The Gigantic Turnip, written/retold by Aleksei Tolstoy, with illustrations by Niamh Sharkey. 

I wasn’t familiar with the story myself, but it’s a classic Russian folktale and a really fun book!  The old man and the old woman plant their vegetables, and have to pull up the GIGANTIC turnip at the end of the row.  The old man can’t do it himself, so the old woman helps, and they enlist the help of all their animals to try and pull up the vegetable.

My daughter (who will be 3 this week!) LOVES for me to read this story.  Although in fact, I’m not doing much of the reading anymore!  There’s quite a bit of repetition in here, with each page just adding more animals to help pull out the turnip.  So she has almost the entire story memorized, and likes to “read” it herself, while pointing out all the animals. 

She also likes to act out the “heaved, and pulled, and tugged and yanked” part, so we really have fun playing the different roles!  But we both also love the ending, where they finally add the hungry little mouse, and of course then with everyone’s teamwork they’re able to pull out that turnip!  (But even funnier for a 3-year-old is when they all fall on top of each other and everyone laughs at the whole debacle!).

A sweet story with fun and quirky illustrations!  This one has been a standard here at our house since we first found (and then subsequently started selling) Barefoot Books last winter.  The Gigantic Turnip is available in paperback for only $7.99, in paperback with a story CD for $9.99, or in hardcover for $16.99.  Feel free to browse my website for more information.

Looking for more Kids’ Picks?  Head on over to 5 Minutes for Books to check out other readers’ kids’ favorites!