If you liked David Wiesner's surrealistic 1992 Caldecott Medalist Tuesday, then June 29, 1999 will send your spirits soaring like a frog on a flying lily pad. This wacky Wiesner creation chronicles an astonishing cross-country phenomenon on June 29, 1999. About a month earlier, on May 11, 1999, young Holly Evans launches vegetable seedlings into the sky from her home in Ho-ho-kus, New Jersey--on seed flats with Acme weather balloons. She expects the plants to stay aloft for a few weeks, allowing her to study the effects of extraterrestrial conditions on their growth and development.

On June 29, 1999, curious things start to happen all over America. A hiker in Montana finds giant turnips in the Rocky Mountains. "Cucumbers circle Kalamazoo. Lima beans loom over Levittown. Artichokes advance on Anchorage." TV news channels announce that arugula has covered Ashtabula, which puzzles Holly, because arugula is not part of her experiment. In fact, she is forced to conclude that none of the enlarged specimen sightings are a result of her initial seedling launch. Where did the giant vegetables come from then? Wiesner waits until the last pages to deliver the punch line. Throughout the book, his visual humor interplays perfectly with the sophisticated though minimal text. (A Mount Rushmore-like scene reveals the faces of Reagan, Bush, Nixon, and Carter carved out of giant potatoes with the caption "Potatoland is wisely abandoned.") This beautifully composed ode to absurdity makes us all wish we really could see parsnips over Providence. Awards and other recognition: 1993 ALA Notable Book, School Library Journal Best Books of 1992, Fanfare 1993: Horn Book's Outstanding Books of the Year, Publishers Weekly 50 Best Books of 1992, New York Times Notable Books of the Year 1992. (Ages 5 and older) --Karin Snelson


From Publishers Weekly
PW's boxed review found this quirky picture book from the Caldecott Medalist "spectacular to look at, great fun to read [and] executed with consumate skill." Ages 5-up.- executed with consumate skill." Ages 5-up. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-- As in the mysterious goings-on of that particular Tuesday (Clarion, 1991) not long ago, Wiesner again takes off on a flight of fantasy, this time set in the not-too-distant future. This sci-fi adventure begins with Holly Evans, a visionary third grader who launches some seedlings into the ionosphere as part of a science experiment. And so the fun begins. Cabbages fill the sky in one part of the country, turnips in another. ``Lima beans loom over Levittown.'' ``Parsnips pass by Providence.'' Yankee ingenuity reigns supreme as the mammoth veggies are put to some rather creative uses. Of course, there's an extraterrestial twist to this healthful tale and the true fate of Holly's project is at last revealed. The exquisite watercolors are truly out of this world. The three-quarter page paintings utilize unusual perspective and are filled with clever detail. The photorealistic quality of the figures and background vistas only underscores the absurdity of the gigantic airborne produce and accentuates the deadpan humor. By all accounts, June 29, 1999 is a date to remember. --Luann Toth, School Library JournalCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review
"Wiesner's dry humor, irony and artistic wizardry have been masterfully marshalled into a visual and literary feast. Kids will relish rolling amusingly alliterative phrases off their tongues almost as much as they delight in these wryly rendered paintings. . . . Spectacular to look at, great fun to read-it is, in sum, executed with consummate skill."


Review
"Wiesner's dry humor, irony and artistic wizardry have been masterfully marshalled into a visual and literary feast. Kids will relish rolling amusingly alliterative phrases off their tongues almost as much as they delight in these wryly rendered paintings. . . . Spectacular to look at, great fun to read-it is, in sum, executed with consummate skill."


Book Description
The lively imagination of Caldecott medalist David Wiesner forecasts astounding goings-on for a Tuesday in the not too distant future -- an occurrence of gigantic vegetal proportions.


Card catalog description
While her third-grade classmates are sprouting seeds in paper cups, Becky has a more ambitious, innovative science project in mind.

ANNOTATION

While her third-grade classmates are sprouting seeds in paper cups, Becky has a more ambitious, innovative science project in mind.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The lively imagination of Caldecott medalist David Wiesner forecasts astounding goings-on for a Tuesday in the not too distant future -- an occurrence of gigantic vegetal proportions.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

PW's boxed review found this quirky picture book from the Caldecott Medalist ``spectacular to look at, great fun to read [and] executed with consumate skill.'' Ages 5-up. (Sept.)

"These witty, wonderfully imaginative pictures reward closer study. Hurray for Wiesner, and his grand sense of humor."

School Library Journal