“Petunia,” by Roger Duvoisin
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1950, 32 pages, K-2.
Picture books often have the ability to teach moral principles in a refreshing manner. Throughout history, pride is listed as the first of the seven deadly sins. The primary reason for this is that people suffering from pride cannot be taught or corrected. They believe that their thinking is without fault.
When criticized, prideful people display arrogance, anger or a condescending attitude. It isn’t always easy to teach this concept to younger children. That is why the book “Petunia,” by Roger Duvoisin, is so useful. Duvoisin humorously demonstrates the effects of pride using a group of farmyard animals. The central character in this funny story is the goose, Petunia.
Petunia roams the barnyard, going nowhere in particular. The farmer pays no particular attention to Petunia because she is a silly goose.
However, Petunia spies something under some plants in the meadow. It is a book. This causes Petunia to become curious. Just the other day, she heard the farmer talking with his young grandson. The older man told the boy that if he wanted to become wise, he would need to have books.
Now this gets Petunia’s attention. Imagine that: a person can get wise with a book! She quickly puts the book under her wing and begins walking through the barnyard. Already, she feels smarter.
All the animals take notice of her new confidence and spy the book under her wing. They conclude that Petunia is very intelligent. Soon, they are all asking her to solve problems they are having.
Petunia finds it easy to solve these problems and confidently tells the animals how to settle their issues. For example, when a hen says three of her nine chicks are missing, Petunia solves the problem: she sees six chicks standing next to their mother. Petunia tells the hen that three of the chicks times three of the chicks makes six. The hen is not entirely happy with the answer but Petunia feels extremely confident.
Petunia is so sure of herself that her neck starts growing. Her neck grows and grows as she solves the issues in the barnyard. What a goose! Her neck is now so long and powerful that she feels nothing is beyond her intelligence. All the rest of the animals begin bowing before her wisdom.
Finally, a critical problem develops. A kitten is meowing high in a tree and is too frightened to come down. Petunia boldly solves the predicament by having all the animals stand on each other’s backs. Now they are stacked as high as the frightened kitty. But the cow holding them all up loses her strength. She sways and the entire animal tower starts spinning. What happens?
Do all the animals fall down? Did Petunia’s self-assured plan work? What happened to the kitty? What does Petunia learn? Why does pride always come before the fall. To find out, go to the library and check out this delightful animal story, “Petunia,” by Roger Duvoisin.
“Petunia” was published in 1950 and became an instant classic. It makes an excellent read-aloud with younger members in your family. Or, you can just read it yourself and have a good laugh.
Duvoisin treats Petunia’s prideful pretensions with humor and good will. Children will intuitively understand that the goose will finally learn her lesson. I hope you get a chance to read this with the children in your family.
