Old Woman and the Red Pumpkin

by Rachel Merriman Betsy Bang, Rachel Merriman

A retelling of an Indic folktale in which a skinny old woman outwits the jackal, bear, and tiger who want to eat her.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Folk Tales, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Saffron Moon]

This rating is for the edition translated and adapted by Betsy Bang and illustrated by Rachel Merriman.

[Lindsay]

I recently found this book in my parents basement, and instantly remembered it from my childhood. It invokes such strong emotions, linked to the exquisite artwork. More than 20 years later and I'm reading it to my children, and they enjoy it as much as I did.

[Emma Chan]

A charming tale, humorously told, with some great body positivity nestled amongst it!

[Cheryl]

3.5 stars -- Despite the rather common storyline of this picture book folktale, I find myself being its champion. This is a title that I have reluctantly removed from my library. In all its time on my shelves - and I won't say how long that has been - it has only been checked out once, and that was by a teacher almost a decade ago. Obviously, my elementary students were not interested. Despite being illustrated by Molly Bang who has gone on to write many well-received books for younger readers, the story's visual appeal is just not that strong. Between the color scheme and the 70s-styled pictures, it could not find interested takers. Still, I love that the Bengali language is included in those illustrations and that a helpful glossary is included at the end which shows the Bengali word, its pronunciation, and its English translation. Regardless, despite eluding the chopping block in previous years, an illustration choice seals its demise. And that, more than anything else, is the source of my defense. I am a librarian, a champion of worthy books, but it doesn't always feel that way. It's a shame, but I need to make room on my shelves for a book my patrons will read.

[Laura Brandon]

Retelling of a traditional folk tale of a woman who outsmarts three greedy, big headed animals that fight each other to prove who’s strongest and therefore gets to eat the most of her.

[I am Me]

Outwit the enemy.
Buy yourself time.
Divide and conquer.
Unrealistic plot, color scheme evokes a sickly feeling, but 3 (3.5) stars for the lessons and the childhood nostalgia.

[L.a. Fraser-mcpherson]

This story is about an old woman who is on her way to her daughters house. On the way, she is approached by several animals who want to eat her, but she asks each one why they would want to eat her, as she is so skinny. She tells them that she is going to her daughters house to eat lots of food, so advises them to eat her on her way back when she has fattened up. She gets to her daughters house and eats many different foods which taught the children about foods that they may not have known about previously and gave them an insight into foods of a different culture. She ate so much that she got very very fat and round. Her daughter put her in a big red pumpkin and rolled her down the lane back home. While she is rolling home, she sings a song that is repeated throughout the book, the children should enjoy singing along with this bit. The pumpkin goes past a few animals, but they dismissed the crazy singing pumpkin, until one animal decided to open up the pumpkin to see where the singing was coming from, and then discovered the old lady. All of the animals come to eat the old lady, but she tells them that they can't eat her as they are not strong enough. The animals begin to argue with each other about who is stronger and the old lady uses this as a chance to slip away and gets home safely.

This book is good for any year group in a primary school, and can be used for story / circle time with the younger children or guided reading with the older children.

[Maria]

Multicultural Book

An old woman goes to visit her grand daughter and has a jackal, tiger, and bear that want to eat her, but she's too skinny. She convinces them to wait until she gets fat at her grand daughters'. She rolls back home in a red pumpkin, gets caught, but escapes.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Awful pictures, unclear design.

[Philippa Hoad]

An indian folk tale for children.