Description
Product Description
Long ago in Italy, a mighty asparagus grew smack-dab in front of the king's castle. Was the king happy about it?
No. The asparagus had to go. But how does a king reason with an asparagus of such stature?
With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Vladimir Radunsky tells the uproarious tale of an almost immovable vegetable. Drawing on Italian Renaissance art, the esteemed artist creates a breathtaking magical kingdom, where it's easy to imagine that such an asparagus existed. His artwork is as gorgeous as it is funny. Although the old masters may turn over in their graves, readers of all ages will clamor for more of
The Mighty Asparagus.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-6–For those who love Radunsky's flamboyantly ribald sense of humor, are comfortable with chaos, and accepting of Italian Renaissance art delivered out of context and edited mischievously, this variant of the classic tale "The Turnip" is great fun. It is set in Italy in 1602, the year an enormous stalk of asparagus grew in the king's yard. A combined effort by the monarch, the queen, a rhinoceros, the bravest knight, the princess, and Tiny Little Bird succeeds in dislodging it. "And the humongous, stupendous, splendid, catastrophic vegetable collapsed!" Not much in the text or illustrations makes sense but both scream for attention. The old masters might not be pleased with Radunsky's schoolboy tendency to exaggerate their subjects' noses or white out their eye sockets to fill them in with slightly crossed bug eyes. Part of the book's mischief involves a seemingly mindless inclusion of phallic images. Adolescent? Oh yeah. And no wonder, considering that the artist says he was 13 years old in 1602 according to the book-jacket notes. It's all very amusing, but will children get it? Yes! The lowbrow humor, the blind silliness, and the quirky exaggerations are childishness itself. For older children there is the appeal of random sarcasm and funky, distorted illustrations.
–Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Interpretations of the Russian folktale "The Enormous Turnip" (see Tatiana Zunshine's book, p.1622), are legion, but Radunsky's may elicit some furrowed brows. A giant asparagus appears in the courtyard of a king, who despises it; eventually, a small bird succeeds in toppling it after all others fail. The book concludes with a foldout revealing the veggie behemoth surrounded by characters and their elegiac musings ("Such a huge asparagus it was, and now it's fallen and beaten down"). Readers older than the story's usual picture-book-age audience will probably most appreciate Radunsky's gonzo storytelling style, but the text is really just a vehicle for eye-popping visuals, a pastiche of Italian Renaissance people and other elements nicked from actual paintings. An author's note acknowledges artists such as Lorenzetti, Piero della Francesca, and Mantegna, but, unfortunately, no master list is given for the numerous individual paintings that are referenced. Creative educators might make this flaw into a virtue, though, by encouraging students to use library resources to trace Radunsky's inspirations. Younger groups studying folktales should stick with retellings like Jan Peck's
The Giant Carrot (1998); pull this out for sophisticated older kids (and college-age art students), who will get the most out of the armchair museum tour.
Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
VLADIMIR RADUNSKY has illustrated many books for children, including
Bling Blang,
Howdi Do, and
My Dolly, all by Woody Guthrie, and his own
Manneken Pis: A Simple Story of a Boy Who Peed on a War. He lives in Italy.