Martha Bla-Bla 30 rel V

Martha Speaks

by Susan Meddaugh

When the current owner of the soup company breaks the founder's promise to have every letter of the alphabet in every can of soup, Martha, the talking dog, takes action

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Humor, Animals, Dogs, Mathematics, 2nd Grade

Hardcover

First published September 30, 1996

About the author

Susan Meddaugh was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from Wheaton College, where she studied French literature and fine arts. After working briefly with an advertising agency in New York, she moved to Boston and worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director. While there, she did the illustrations for Good Stones (Houghton Mifflin) by Anne Epstein, and then decided to strike out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Since that time, Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including Martha Speaks, which was chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 1992. In 1998 she was awarded the New England Book Award, given by the New England Booksellers Association to recognize a body of work. Her work also was acknowledged with a New York Times Best Illustrated Award. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts. - from HMHBooks.com

Susan Meddaugh, a New England Book Award Winner, adores Halloween and calls it "THE major Holiday" in her household, in part, she says "because it's the only time in the year when you get to be someone else." - from Candlewick.com

Reviews

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will always remember how hard the whole family laughed while reading this book

[Savannah Montalvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martha Blah Blah by Susan Meddaugh was a story about a dog who had the ability to speak after eating a can of Granny's Alphabet Soup. Later in the story, Granny Flo decided it would be cheaper to made cans of soup with only half of the alphabet. With only 13 letters in the new cans, Martha was no longer able to form words and speak. I enjoyed reading the quest Martha endured in order to get all 26 letters back in the soup. Martha the dog teaches the importance of having "every letter in every can" just like Granny Elsie promised! I thought the book was cute, creative, and great for kids of all ages.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha can't speak properly!!! Whatever is a dog to do?? Go to the source, that's what we need to do! Something is wrong with the alphabet soup! Will Martha be able to get her wonderful words back? find out in this exciting installment of MARTHA!!!!! =D

[Michelle Farella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this dog :-)

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martha Blah Blah by Susan Meddaugh
Review by Luisa Daniel

Martha Blah Blah shows a dog that is very good at showing her emotions and tries to communicate to the outside world, but no one understand her til one day her family feeds her alphabet soup. Instead of the alphabet soup going to her stomach it goes to her head and she is now able to communicate to the outside world by speaking english. From that day forward she was regularly given alphabet soup. The neighborhood rejoiced and she became famous in her community until one day everything changed, and she was able to speak a little but the words were not complete words. Walking around the neighborhood she smelt something familiar, and she followed the scent until she found out that it was Granny’s Alphabet soup. After eating that specific alphabet soup she was able to speak again, finally figuring out what happened and changed the soup she went to the factory to speak her mind. Eventually having the original recipe back.

This book by Susan Meddaugh has text but when reading the book the emotions come from the pictures to tell the story of this one dog Martha who is able to speak after eating alphabet soup. The personality of Martha is energetic, playful, and communicative. The moment she was not able to speak her little world came crashing down but that bump was not going to change the fact she wanted to talk again and figure out what happened and what changed. She did not stop until she figured it out and fixed the problem.

The illustrations throughout the book give the emotional connection from the reader in the eyes of Martha. From the beginning to the end the color palet stays neutral like reds, greens, blues, and oranges, with those colors it makes the readers eyes drawn to the page. The media being watercolor it gives it depth and also being shaded it kind of make it easy to look at. Almost every scene in the book involves the main quirky character Martha whether she is happy or sad.

Overall, Martha Blah Blah is a good read and would recommend to the next person.

Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

[Hayden Hanshew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Blah Blah Martha by Susan Meddaugh was interesting. It originally caught my eye because there is a dog on the front cover, and I love dogs. The dog, Martha, is a basic design, like something a child would have drawn, or the less artistic people in the world, but I liked it because from the point of view of a child, I'm sure Martha is loved. I found the book cute. When Martha or other characters in the book spoke, the font changed into letters that looked like they were from a can of alphabet soup. There is also a lot of green in the color scheme, and I thought that maybe it could mean happiness and content because on some pages, you can see Martha is living a good life. I also thought it could symbolize greed on some of the illustrations because the owner of Granny's soup wants more money.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the concept of the book, “Martha Blah Blah.” The idea of a talking dog was absolutely hilarious to me. There was good conflict in this story that moved the plot along and made it very entertaining. I also appreciated the character of Grandma Flo. At the beginning of the novel Grandma Flo was driven to produce good quality soup, but as the story strung along, Grandma Flo in a sense forgot where she came from. After she cut the quality of soup by taking out letters, she had a self reflection. I think that although Grandma Flo wasn’t the primary character in this novel, this is a good story for kids to reflect on. One of the main concepts i took away from this story and Grandma Flo was the importance of intergretity. overall i thought this book was very enjoyable and loved reading it.

[Micaela Varela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute book. I like how Meddaugh added dialogue in the illustrations along with the actual story. After reading, I now understand why it's called "Martha Blah Blah." I have to admit, I was a little stressed when Granny took out the letters and Martha lost her ability to speak. It really had me on the edge of my seat wondering if she'd ever talk normally again.

[Tinga Eater · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a cute book that tells of the importance of having and using all of our letters to speak. It is a fun adventure with Martha the speaking dog that enjoys eating all the letters in her alphabet soup. We discover what happens when some of the letters in her soup are missing.
It is a book I recommend reading to 1st to 2nd grade students.

[Abdulla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book because it brought back some great old memories of when I was a child and the story is just perfect. It's funny, it's really interesting and it had a dog as the main character.
I can't wait to read the other books from the Martha Speaks series.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an adorable book about a dog who ate alphabet soup and could talk! Then the alphabet soup company changed policies and cut out some letters. The dog couldn't communicate. So he found some old cans and went to talk to Granny. It got fixed and he could talk to his family.

[Becky Galambos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little story with both a fun protagonist in the form of Martha the talking dog, and a little old granny of a villain who gets set straight. If A Christmas Carol was made into a picture book, this would probably be in.

[Kaelee Bungard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool illustrations and the way the book is formatted is also really cool. It is a good way to help children understand why we need all the letters in the alphabet to be able to form full words and sentences.

[Kaila Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adding this on here bc it came through returns at work and I stood and giggled as I read through it.

Martha is utterly delightful and she can take all of my money for all the alphabet soup (including ALL the letters!!!)

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha soon loses her words and must figure out how to get them back! In Martha Blah Blah, readers are reintroduced to our favorite speaking dog and all she’s been up to. Not only do we have the general story moving along, speech bubbles are added into illustrations for added conversation.

[Chris Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great read aloud stories.

[Lisa M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Martha!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha is a dog to be reckoned with!

Alphabet soup made her what she is today, (a talking dog) and she gets to the bottom of things when the soup fails her one day!

[Nichole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember watching this episode with Ben when he was little.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teaching children about the impact of corporate greed on our dogs.

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this one, the canned soup that Martha eats to speak is tampered with and she finds that she can't speak properly any more, so she takes matters into her own hands.

[Hendrix Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shrinkflation and the evils of capitalism try to foil talking dog. Dog prevails. Two paws up!

[Jimmy Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book introduces readers to Martha the family dog and Helen the daughter at the beginning of the story. An unexpected miracle happens when Martha eats a bowl of Granny’s Alphabet Soup. The alphabet soup goes to Martha’s brain and that is how she is able to begin talking to her owners. The alphabet soup allows her to communicate when she is ready for dinner and leads her on adventures to the local Burger Boy where orders of burgers are announced to the attendant in the drive through window! Seems that even the neighborhood dogs are enjoying Martha’s new talent as they can even get Martha to communicate their thoughts to other dogs. All is great until an executive decision is made by Granny Flo to cut out some of the alphabets in the soup in order to capture more profits.
Within a week the new Granny’s Alphabet Soup is delivered to local supermarkets and after the new soup is eaten, Martha is unable to construct words. What was once possible is now impossible for Martha, no more burgers at Burger Boy or requests she was able to communicate to her owners. One evening Martha is able to track a familiar scent of soup to a former employee of Granny’s Alphabet Soup and the old recipe of the soup is had by Martha and she regains the ability to speak again. There is one last visit to make to Granny’s Alphabet Soup factory.
I liked the idea behind the author’s story as it is a phenomena that many of us animal lovers wish could actually happen. The ability for dogs to talk! This story relates to the emotions and feelings we have as humans who are able to voice our ideas and use words to communicate. I think the author targets a younger audience but as an adult I found this story of Martha to be fun to read as she goes on her way to live in a world where she can talk. The author again does a great job in illustrations that capture the feelings and funny facial expressions as Martha experiences what it is like to be able to talk and then having this ability be taken from her. Fantasy is for sure at play here and young readers as well as adults can again enjoy the light tone and adventures Martha goes on in this book for beginning readers.

[Marc Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martha Blah Blah is a book by Susan Meddaugh and has the feel of a Simpsons episode! This is an off the wall story about a dog Martha who attains the ability to speak when fed alphabet soup. Once Martha gets used to her special abilities as a talking dog the owner of the alphabet soup company Granny Flo decides to raise her profits and fires half of the letter makers and Martha suddenly cant speak any more. Without her speaking abilities Martha becomes sad and goes for a long walk where she meets Alf the former letter A maker who was fired by Granny Flo. Alf feeds Martha the last can of alphabet soup with all the letters and Martha is able to speak. Marthas next step is to visit Granny Flo and try to get her to put back all the letters in the alphabet soup. It gets better but you have to read to see if Granny Flo will live up to the promise of every letter in every can.

This book was definitely a page turner. This book is much easier to explain what happens than to explain what it's about and underlying messages. I think when Granny Flo says her company isn't a school and it's not her responsibility to use all the letters shes mistaken. Its called alphabet soup not letter soup and her company should keep promises.
For kids the meaning is all the letters are important and we need them all to speak correctly. This book was very entertaining.

[Sadie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Martha Blah Blah" by Susan Meddaugh caught my eye because the title sounded funny. In my opinion, it was anything but. "Martha Blah Blah" is about a dog, Martha, who eats alphabet soup and is suddenly able to speak. In the beginning, that part intrigued me because it was something different. However, after that, I was very unimpressed. A new owner of the alphabet soup company decides to eliminate some of the letters, resulting in panic. Martha's phrases come out jumbled, and asterisks are put in to every word bubble to help readers understand her. At first glance, I passed right over the asterisks! I had to read it a couple times before I knew to look at the bottom of the page, where it was written in small print. I think this book would be amazing for children who are older, maybe the 10-12 age range, but not for younger children. I say that because the book is a bit long for a picture book so it requires the attention older children typically have. I think it's an interesting book because the story-line is different than most books, but it isn't something I would highly recommend due to the length and the fine print.

[Gabby Settembre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha Blah Blah is a children's book about Martha the talking dog. Everyday she eats her can of Granny's Soup, but lately she has been losing her words. Ever since a Granny's Soup Company got a new owner Martha can only speak in strange sounds. The new owners needed to cut money down, so they stopped putting all the letters in the alphabet soup, which is causing Martha some problems. Her family thinks she is losing her power, but Martha knows it is not her fault. She uses her nose to find Granny out the source of the problem, ultimately getting her speech back.

This book illustrated to young readers how the alphabet is important. When Martha can not speak as well as she used to, her family can not understand her demonstrating the importance of letters so that we can communicate with others. This simple, yet challenging task is important for young readers to understand that the alphabet sets the standard for language. Without the alphabet people could not read, or communicate with others making life almost impossible. It also shows the determination of some people, or dogs, have to learn the alphabet and what people will do to succeed at learning the language.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Martha, a curious canine with a hunger for knowledge and new friendships, discovers a secret power that she possesses. When she eats a bowl of alphabet soup, she acquires letters and words from the soup. This allows her to speak, make friends, and have exciting adventures everywhere she goes! With her special talent stemming from this enticingly delicious alphabet soup, Martha finds trouble when the soup's company has to cut some expenses from their budget. This delightfully simple story tells the tale of a talking dog and her journey for knowledge.

Throughout this book, the importance of reading is emphasized. Martha is constantly using her vocabulary and words to make new friends. When she experiences problems speaking once the soup company resolves money issues, she learns how crucial it is to be able to speak and read. Without it, she can't speak or read or learn and do anything interesting.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Martha was a fun character because she was a dog who could talk due to eating alphabet soup everyday. The story about the soup company making changes to save money and leaving out some of the letters is like real life companies that make changes without thinking how it will affect everyone else. Martha lost her ability to speak because of it and eventually found out the reason she couldn't speak was that not all of the letters were in her soup. Martha found a way to get Granny Flo (the owner of the soup company) to add the letters back in by making her believe that a picture on the wall was speaking to her. The picture on the wall told Granny Flo to add the letters back into every can of soup. The picture wasn't really speaking to her. It was Martha talking but Granny Flow did make the change. After the change Martha's life went back to normal.

[Kyounga Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Title
The title is catchy and phonetic. The "Blah, Blah" makes readers be curious about the story.

The Illustration
The illustrator doesn't use much colors, but it is so bright and beautiful. The fantastic combination of orange and green color make the picture more vivid and warm. It match well the story itself. The cartoon-style picture is also children's favorite.

The Story
The idea that Martha dog has her usual daily bowl of alphabet soup and can say real words is very creative. The line that she couldn't imagine not being able to talk, and just another dog, scratching on the door to go out is pretty persuasive to children to learn language. The last line that ...and all before Martha coul say even a word is excellent. Even though Martha cannot speak, her family loves her!

[Alexandria K · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this Martha adventure Martha's family enjoys having a talking dog, but when Martha eats her alphabet soup something weird happens. Martha starts speaking nonsense. When Martha smells alphabet soup she goes to a window looks through and sees Alf Abbott she eats some of the alphabet soup and Martha's words come out perfectly! Alf Abbott says "My last can of REAL alphabet soup. It's just not the same since Granny left out half of the letters." Martha answers "What did you say?" Then Martha goes to Granny's and says "You broke your promise!" Granny thinks its her Granny Elsie who said that, but its Martha. Martha tells Granny to put all the letters back in the alphabet soup. Martha is back as a regular talking dog.