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Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip (Albert Whitman Prairie Books
2007-2008 Show Me Readers Award preliminary list (Missouri)
2005 Aesop Accolade, American Folklore Society
Grandma Lena believes that something worth doing is worth doing right. So she takes good care of the turnips she plants in her garden. One turnip grows to an enormous size―Baby Pearl thinks it's a big potato! It is big enough to feed half the town. And it's so big that Grandma can’t pull it out of the ground! Even when Grandpa, Uncle Izzy, Aunt Netty, and the dog help Grandma yank and tug, the big ol’ turnip doesn’t budge. Still, this African-American family, including Baby Pearl, knows how to pull together.
2005 Aesop Accolade, American Folklore Society
Grandma Lena believes that something worth doing is worth doing right. So she takes good care of the turnips she plants in her garden. One turnip grows to an enormous size―Baby Pearl thinks it's a big potato! It is big enough to feed half the town. And it's so big that Grandma can’t pull it out of the ground! Even when Grandpa, Uncle Izzy, Aunt Netty, and the dog help Grandma yank and tug, the big ol’ turnip doesn’t budge. Still, this African-American family, including Baby Pearl, knows how to pull together.
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 31, 2017
Story: 5 stars
Illustrations: 5 stars
African American re-telling of the Russian folktale, in picture book format. Sticks close to the original but substitutes family members for the animals. Text relates this cumulative story with just the right amount of repetition. Good incorporation of different types of turnips. This African American version features soul food cooking and a block party celebration. Illustrations are attractive and complement the text well. Consider this book if you're looking for a good diverse picture book. Also can be used to show variation in folktale re-tellings.
Illustrations: 5 stars
African American re-telling of the Russian folktale, in picture book format. Sticks close to the original but substitutes family members for the animals. Text relates this cumulative story with just the right amount of repetition. Good incorporation of different types of turnips. This African American version features soul food cooking and a block party celebration. Illustrations are attractive and complement the text well. Consider this book if you're looking for a good diverse picture book. Also can be used to show variation in folktale re-tellings.
March 27, 2019
This book wone Aesop Accolades in 2005. This is an adaptation of an old Russian folk tale called, "The Turnip," as told by Aleksey Tolstoy. Grandma Lena grows a giant turnip big enough to help feed half the town a meal when she invites them over to help her fill the hole it left, with some left over! This is a soulful rendition of the tale, because of the food served. There is a picture of the four adults pulling out the turnip that is simply hilarious. The faces are shown from the side but it is perfect for the story. The house and the yard could be anytown, USA. The inclusion of a toddler in diapers and a dog, that both take part in the action, make this story very relatable for young children. This book would make a great read aloud.
November 14, 2021
I have mixed feelings about this retelling of a classic Russian folktale. It is a bit wordy, and some of the simplicity of the story is lost. But the illustrations are top-notch. Large, bright, and engaging, they portray a multi-generational African American family participating in everyday activities: gardening, gathering on the porch, spending time with the neighbors. There's even a kettle grill on the lawn. The book wraps up with Grandma Lena making a feast in her kitchen: half a dozen turnip dishes and corn muffins on the side. Some recipes would have been nice. I think most Americans don't know what to do with a turnip, and Grandma Lena even uses the greens (yum!). Overall, it could have used some editing, but this is still a nice version.
March 13, 2021
I enjoyed reading “Grandma Lena’s Ol’ Turnip” because I could relate that big turnip to the big pumpkin contest that they always do at the Canfield fair. It was really aspiring how every family member including the baby and dog helped to pull it out of its hole. The use of repetition in a certain phrase made it more appealing to the reading on the act that they all experienced. I also liked the details of the pictures illustrated throughout it. It was very kind of Grandma Lena to give a plate of her harvest to her neighbors because it showed the hard work she did to cook it and plant it to grow it how it turned out.
January 2, 2023
This was a story we used to highlight "TEAMWORK," and that message was very clear in Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip. This was read to a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, and both children truly enjoyed the story and was easy to branch off into other conversations about not only how to apply teamwork to our lives, but also how no matter how small someone may seem, they can have a huge impact (Baby Pearl was a favorite character!). This was a 5 start read in our homeschool!
April 12, 2021
My 3.5 year old really enjoyed this one. Classic tall tale type story where for no reason at all a massive vegetable appears and everyone has to work together to harvest it. The baby's insistence that it was a big potato rather than a turnip felt a bit corny to me, but my kid really enjoyed it so I'm not complaining.
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October 13, 2019This book is a very nice family story. I thought the pictures paired perfectly with the story. From Grandma watering her turnips to the one growing larger than all the others. Secondly the addition of the family members a great addition to the illustrations. I would recommend this book.
January 31, 2023
I'm not a huge fan of this book because I feel like it's a little boring for young students. I don't think young children would be able to stay focused on this book. This book might be better to read one on one with a student rather than to the entire class.
October 22, 2019
This is a re-telling of the Enormous Turnip. I like the twist this one has with the main characters being from the South, people of color, and making soul-food at the end.
September 25, 2020
This is a good retelling of one of my favorite folktales.
October 31, 2022
Great folktale for a read-aloud. Reminds me of another story...but still cute with colorful illustrations.
February 3, 2023
A really cute story about a grandma growing a big turnip and feeding her neighborhood. The main family is Black and the neighborhood is biracial group. It’s a very good story for representation.
April 7, 2023
This is a super cute book about how with a little teamwork and determination you can do anything you set your mind to! It is also a great book about food other cultures and places eat!
March 9, 2024
Beautiful illustrations!
November 18, 2025
Love a good folktale retold.
Read this and compare to Jan Brett's "The Turnip"
Read this and compare to Jan Brett's "The Turnip"
February 26, 2015
Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip is around 30 pages and a couple sentences to a paragraph per page. The story highlights a grandma named Lena who decides to grow turnips in her garden. As the story goes along, we see Lena go through the entire planting process. She digs into the soil, plants the seeds, and waters the area as the sprouts begin to emerge. The center of the story is about the one turnip that grows much bigger than the rest, which is evident by its large leafs. Once summer comes, Lena tries to take the turnip out of the ground but cannot because it is so large. It takes her whole family to do it and it feeds the whole town. Throughout the story, the illustrations elaborate on the scenes by showing not only good representations of what planting looks like, but also through showing what Lena's environment and culture is. She is an ethnic woman with three generations at her brick home with a porch. It seems like she lives in a typical, lower middle class neighborhood with a grill out front and a few chairs on the porch. The illustrations are not sharp but show great detail into the the environment, including the house, Lena, and various gardening objects. The vocabulary is not particularly strong though it does have some language that is not proper and more exclusive to the culture. Because the book revolves around this large turnip, the illustrations that add on to the words of the book are pretty vital to the overall story and do a great job at vividly showing environmental detail.
This book would have some use in the classroom, but is not particularly valuable. It would do a good job of showing diversity, but it doesn't specifically hit on culture, so there are many other books that could do this better. The book would be good to use near the beginning of spring when plants are growing. I could see this book being a good start to a lesson in a natural science unit about plants and what it takes for them to go.
This book would have some use in the classroom, but is not particularly valuable. It would do a good job of showing diversity, but it doesn't specifically hit on culture, so there are many other books that could do this better. The book would be good to use near the beginning of spring when plants are growing. I could see this book being a good start to a lesson in a natural science unit about plants and what it takes for them to go.
April 18, 2016
The book Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip by Denia Lewis Hester is in the genre of picture books and for ages around four to seven years old. The book was about Grandma Lena planting turnips in her garden. She had planted a whole bunch and there had been one big turnip growing taller than the other ones and everyone had to help grandma Lena pull out the big turnip. The reason that I rated the book the way I did was because I felt the book was very engaging and bringing in eyes of readers and of young readers at that. After like the third page, the book started to get very exciting and would draw everyone's attention. The characters had been introduced very clearly and they each had a big part in the story. They all had to help grandma Lena pull out her big turnip. The colors in the book are very light and bright. The illustrations that were begin showed basically told the story, if words never made up. I feel that children would want to keep reading this book over and over. I feel it is a fun and easy reader. The book would also have a child laughing because of how everyone is pulling on the one big turnip and it takes everyone to finally get it out. I feel this is a great book for children because they would think that a turnip could really grow that tall, but then they will see the fun in it too. This book would be appealing to young readers because the pictures bring out your attention right away and readers would just want to jump right inside the book.
April 18,2016
April 18,2016
September 26, 2013
Book Title: Grandma Lena’s Big Ol’ Turnip by Denia Hester
Short Description of the Book: In this variation of the classic Russian folktale, Grandma Lena plants some special turnip seeds in her garden. One turnip grows especially well and Grandma Lena has to enlist the help of her entire family to get that turnip out of the ground.
FOCUS: Narrative Features I would use in a Mini-Lesson
1.) Repeated Line: Hester uses a few repeated lines within the text of her story. At various points in the story Grandma Lena says “Anything worth doing is worth doing right”, and Baby Pearl continually calls the turnip a “big potato”. By using repeated lines in their writing, students can add an true storytelling element that make their stories feel like those we would read in real books.
2.) Narrative Structure: The folktale structure of this story could be inspirational to students to try in their own fiction writing. Students could take a real-life event, add imaginary characters and plot, and write a story where they keep adding more characters to help the main character solve a problem.
Teach: CCSS W.1.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
Short Description of the Book: In this variation of the classic Russian folktale, Grandma Lena plants some special turnip seeds in her garden. One turnip grows especially well and Grandma Lena has to enlist the help of her entire family to get that turnip out of the ground.
FOCUS: Narrative Features I would use in a Mini-Lesson
1.) Repeated Line: Hester uses a few repeated lines within the text of her story. At various points in the story Grandma Lena says “Anything worth doing is worth doing right”, and Baby Pearl continually calls the turnip a “big potato”. By using repeated lines in their writing, students can add an true storytelling element that make their stories feel like those we would read in real books.
2.) Narrative Structure: The folktale structure of this story could be inspirational to students to try in their own fiction writing. Students could take a real-life event, add imaginary characters and plot, and write a story where they keep adding more characters to help the main character solve a problem.
Teach: CCSS W.1.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
February 26, 2015
Personal Reaction- Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip is a great book that has suspense and humor. A good story that gets everyone involved and made me wonder who the person was going to be to be able to get the turnip out of the ground.
Purposes:
This book would be good from 1st-3rd graders. It was originally a Russian tale that was turned into an urban story. The use of a black family gives a unique sense to the different type of culture and different ways people come together to figure things out. The vocabulary used was laid back and had a fun twang to it. The vocabulary used was not difficult and made the story easy to read and enjoyable. The illustrations are fun, especially because the main point of the story is showing a giant turnip. The characters are fun and unique. This story would be good to use in the classroom when intermixing cultures (Russian and African American culture). Showing the similarities and differences between the types of people and how they act differently to similar situations. A fun way to see how people really are all the same no matter where they are from or what they look like.
Purposes:
This book would be good from 1st-3rd graders. It was originally a Russian tale that was turned into an urban story. The use of a black family gives a unique sense to the different type of culture and different ways people come together to figure things out. The vocabulary used was laid back and had a fun twang to it. The vocabulary used was not difficult and made the story easy to read and enjoyable. The illustrations are fun, especially because the main point of the story is showing a giant turnip. The characters are fun and unique. This story would be good to use in the classroom when intermixing cultures (Russian and African American culture). Showing the similarities and differences between the types of people and how they act differently to similar situations. A fun way to see how people really are all the same no matter where they are from or what they look like.
December 3, 2021
Grandma Lena spent all winter looking at turnip seed catalogs. Now it's spring and planting time. As the turnip plants grow one in particular is quite large. As Grandma Lena tries to pull it out of the ground she realizes that she needs help. She calls for Grandpa. Grandpa pulls on Grandma but the turnip won't budge. So the story continues as Grandma Lena calls on each member of the family to help out. Finally, when Grandma calls for Rascal the dog to help out (and baby Pearl helps out) the turnip pops out of the ground.
Historical info on the original Russian folktale is included, as well as a note on the author's adapted version.
Historical info on the original Russian folktale is included, as well as a note on the author's adapted version.
February 8, 2011
This book will be a good book to add to your cultural collection on your bookshelf in your classroom. The grandmother uses the turnip she planted to make some southern dishes that we all call "soul food." The dishes she make and the way in which she prepares them are similar to the way the African American culture prepare certain dishes such as corn bread muffins, turnip stew with potatoes, carrots and peas, and even turnip greens cooked in bacon and onions. It's a very enjoyable book that opens up exposure of one culture to others.
July 8, 2011
Age:
Grades K-3
Genre:
folktale
Diversity:
African-American; The South
Illustrations:
Illustrations look like they were drawn with pencil and colored with watercolors.
Personal response:
The story is adapted from a Russian folktale. I enjoyed the repetition of sentences in the book and think it would be great for younger children. I also love all of the cultural reference to Southern homestyle cooking. Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip is just a fun book.
Curricular or programming connections:
This book would be good for cultural lesson on The South and Southern food.
Grades K-3
Genre:
folktale
Diversity:
African-American; The South
Illustrations:
Illustrations look like they were drawn with pencil and colored with watercolors.
Personal response:
The story is adapted from a Russian folktale. I enjoyed the repetition of sentences in the book and think it would be great for younger children. I also love all of the cultural reference to Southern homestyle cooking. Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip is just a fun book.
Curricular or programming connections:
This book would be good for cultural lesson on The South and Southern food.
April 1, 2013
A retelling of the Russian folktale "The Turnip." In this version, Grandma Lena does her research and settles on the Purple Top variety of turnip to plant in her garden. She calls on the help of her family to harvest the gigantic turnip that sprouts and turns the efforts of all their hard labor into a delicious meal.
Detailed paintings bring the garden and all of the individual members of Lena's family to life. Their facial expressions help readers get a feel for their personalities though they are not mentioned in text.
Overall, a great read about gardening, family and food.
Detailed paintings bring the garden and all of the individual members of Lena's family to life. Their facial expressions help readers get a feel for their personalities though they are not mentioned in text.
Overall, a great read about gardening, family and food.
September 8, 2008
What a shame my grandparent Book Time is already planned! I discovered this book in my pile of "rain" books. And it's a good one! It would have been a fun one to tell. And the build-on tale was not boring, either. I liked that the family worked together and that the neighborhood came together to enjoy. Maybe I can use it some other time...
February 10, 2015
I thought that this book was a good story for children. It shows children that they can do anything if they set their mind to it. Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip also shows kids that they can help each other to get things done . Overall I thought it was a good book, and I would read it to Kindergarteners-2nd graders.
November 18, 2012
This is a good adaptation of the old folk tale. It is still a story about gardening and harvest, but family members provide all of the help instead of the family plus farm animals. The language and rhythm is fun and engaging for young audiences.
July 7, 2019
A cute take on a Russian folk tale! I love that it's remixed into a tale of an African American woman growing turnips in her city lot, and that she basically has a block party to share the turnips with her neighbors.
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September 27, 2013Grandma Lena grows a turnip so big that she needs help pulling it out of the ground and eating it.
November 4, 2010
Great read-aloud.
August 31, 2012
funny, great illustrations
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews