The Gigantic Turnip

A classic folktale with all the attributes of a good children's book with positive values, cooperation, and rich language use.

When you look for children’s books, older stories are often better because they were truly written for children, not for the “children’s book industry.”

The Gigantic Turnip is a truly a classic, and Barefoot Books has published this lovely edition.

I like the focus on the elderly couple because current children’s books put an odd emphasis on children doing fantastical things by themselves.

And everyone has to work really, really hard to accomplish the simple goal of pulling up a turnip. This is a great lesson as there is true pleasure in working with others to accomplish a difficult and boring task.

And then they cook and eat the turnip!

Amazon provided all these nice page images for The Gigantic Turnip here.

However, the original version is the best. Sadly, I cannot find a clean copy in print, so I’m sharing images from the Archive.org online library here. You can print screenshots to bind into a paper book for your children, as the copyright has rolled off this book due to age (and because you are not selling it).

The artwork by Veniamin Nikolaevich Losin is richly colored and gorgeous,

I like the use of Grandma and Grandpa in this original version.

In old books, people look robust and healthy, which I like to show children,

Screenshots: Archive.org with online memberships available to all.

The end.