THE POWER OF UNION

by Trenti, Andrea
                                                                                                             
When a turnip grows, it does not always become big and strong. But this little vegetable turns into “The great, big, enormous turnip” through Alexei Tolstoy. From the beginning of this charming tale, children that are growing sweet and strong can discover that the old man in the story will not be able to pull up the turnip on his own. But who would be strong enough to help him?

After pulling and pulling again, the old man asks the old woman for help. Since they cannot pull up the vegetable, a chain of efforts begins: the old woman calls her granddaughter, the granddaughter calls the dog, the dog calls the cat and even the cat calls the mouse! They pull one another and fortunately manage to pull the turnip up at last.

Text and illustrations are used creatively to build the idea of cooperation. The pictures introduce sequences through which every character that asks for help appears in a small part of the page, while the one that is called occupies the whole of the next page. By doing so, the importance of each new link in the chain is highlighted. But in order to focus on the different size of the characters, every sequence is closed by showing them all together in that funny chain, in which the smallest pulls the biggest. In addition, the text presents a rhythmical sequence that is repeated each time a new character joins the group. This repetition lets children predict what will come next. So, the message constructed in the story is that the strength of the group is given by the teamwork and not by the size of its members

Definitely, this is a lovely story to deal with the idea of cooperation. Children can easily realize that every one’s contribution is unique, and that differences and rivalries must be set aside in order to help others. And of course, when a turnip grows, it may become big and strong, but never stronger than the power of union.