Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip

By Denia Lewis Hester and Jackie Urbanovic

Grandma Lena believes that something worth doing is worth doing right. So she takes good care of the turnips she plants in her garden. One turnip grows to an enormous size—Baby Pearl thinks it’s a big potato! It is big enough to feed half the town. And it’s so big that Grandma can’t pull it out of the ground! Even when Grandpa, Uncle Izzy, Aunt Netty, and the dog help Grandma yank and tug, the big ol’ turnip doesn’t budge. Still, this African-American family, including Baby Pearl, knows how to pull together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman Company
• Release date: Jun 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497652347

Denia Lewis Hester

Denia Lewis Hester loves turnips (among other veggies). When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys all kinds of movies, especially science fiction. She is a graduate of Columbia College, Chicago, and Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois. Denia has reviewed children's books for the Chicago Sun-Times and the American Library Association.

Reviews for Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip

[lycomayflower · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

12.) [Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip], [[Denia Lewis Hester]] ***1/2This picture book recasts a traditional Russian tale into a suburban environment. Grandma Lena plants a turnip that grows to unbelievable proportions and needs the help of all the family to pull it up. Then she makes all manner of good southern food out of it and invites the whole neighborhood to a picnic. Pleasant with nice illustrations.