The Ginghams: The Backward Picnic (A Little Golden Book, #148)

by Joan Bowden

Book Overview

Sarah wants to have a picnic with her best friend Dan. She prepares the food and takes her dog, Barney, and her two dolls to Dan's house. But Dan has too many chores to go on a picnic. Sarah tries to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000KEJJD0
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Golden Press
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Such a sweet story

This book has a nice message. Unable to bring Dan along on their picnic, Sarah and Barney unhappily start up the hill. A kind grandma and some other neighbors notice the poor doggy is upset, and try to cheer him up with extra treats for the picnic. After the cart rolls all the way back down the hill, Sarah decides to help Dan do his chores so he can join the picnic after all. In addition to a happy ending brought about by helping others, the book has adorable pictures. I have always loved Americana country furnishings and fashions. I once came across a Ginghams coloring book, and one of the four little sunbonneted girls in it was named Sarah.

The Ginghams: The Backward Picnic

ASIN B000KEJJD0 - This is one title I've been curious about for a long time, because it's got a subtitle, which makes it seem as if The Ginghams were meant to be a series. If so, I've never found any other books from it. Sarah gets ready for a picnic with her dolls, Henry and Harriet, and her dog, Barney. Once she's packed up and ready to go, she and her friends stop at the house of their best friend, Dan, to invite him along. Sadly, Dan has chores to do and Sarah, Barney, Henry and Harriet go off without him. Sarah feels fidgety with her decision, so much so that she doesn't notice that her dogcart, once unhitched from Barney, has gone rolling down the hill without her! It stops in Dan's yard, where she finally catches up to it and offers to help Dan do his chores so that they can all picnic together. As far as complaints go, I don't have many. The dolls, Henry and Harriet, one in a skirt and the other in pants, have long, blond, wavy hair. Henry is called "he" at one point, so he's clearly male, he just looks like a girl - maybe illustrator JoAnne Koenig didn't realize that? Or maybe it's the 1970s thing (which is just weird, it being a kids' book)? Other than that oddity, the illustrations are really cute, very "country", with the gingham and the ladies wearing bonnets. Bowden did a nice job with the text and got a little message in there too. - AnnaLovesBooks