Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego, 1987.
Hardcover edition, 32 pages, ISBN 0-15-232579-1.

Ehlert's solid backgrounds and simple brightly colored shapes clearly delineate the tools, seed types and basic procedures for planting, caring for, and harvesting veggies before washing, chopping, cooking and eating as vegetable soup. She places a few large words on each page, and each item is carefully identified with small labels.

This is an excellent first book about gardening and is well suited to program use for toddlers and preschoolers. It may be accompanied by the quintessential planting activity of a bean seed in a styro cup with a little potting soil.

Promotes print motivation through labeling, print awareness and letter knowledge through limited sections of large type, and narrative skills in detailing of sequential processes of gardening. Enhances vocabulary development of tools, plants and activities related to food production.