Martha Blah Blah

by Susan Meddaugh, Susan Meddaugh (Illustrator)

Overview

Something's wrong with Martha, the talking dog! She has eaten her daily bowl of alphabet soup, but when she opens her mouth to speak, strange sounds come out instead of words. Fortunately her nose still works, and she follows it to the source of the mystery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547530598
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Series:	Martha Speaks Series
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	AD560L (what's this?)
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Susan Meddaugh worked at a publishing company for ten years, first as a designer, then art editor, and finally as art director before striking out on her own as a freelance illustrator and creator of children's books. Susan has written and illustrated many popular books for children, including Martha Speaks, which was chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book for 1992. Her Martha Speaks book series was adapted into an award-winning PBS Kids TV show. She lives in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

While Meddaugh's Martha Calling essentially reprised the hilarious Martha Speaks, this third volume teaches the talking dog new tricks. And, without losing entertainment value, it puts corporate strategies and deceptive ads in perspective for young audiencesno mean feat. After reminding readers that Martha requires daily helpings of alphabet soup to be able to speak, Meddaugh introduces a dilemma. Granny's Soup Company has fired 13 letter-crafters to cut costs ("Why do we need all those letters? This is soup, not school!"), and the resulting broth includes only half the alphabet. Suddenly Martha begins speaking gibberish, and when she tries to use the phone or order burgers at a drive-through, humans regard her with amusement, not amazement. Shocked, the chatty canine realizes that she's about to become "just another dog, scratching on the door to go out." Meddaugh appends asterisks to Martha's attempts to talk, helpfully translating "Wogo!" as "My words are gone!" Then, after building suspense with a careful balance of text, cartoons and voice-bubbles, the author-illustrator solves the predicament in a shrewd, witty way. The workers return to their jobs, the missing letters are restored and Martha learns that her family loves her, voice or no voice. Souperb. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 4-Fans of Martha Speaks (1992) and Martha Calling (1994, both Houghton) will be delighted by this third adventure of the talking canine. When Granny Flo inherits the company that makes the alphabet soup that enables Martha to speak, the woman immediately fires 13 of the 26 pasta letter makers for the sake of bigger profits. The elimination of these letters from the soup makes Martha's speech hilariously unintelligible. When the quick-thinking dog learns of the cuts from Alf Abbot (unemployed pasta man "A"), she uses her smarts to convince Granny Flo to put the missing letters back in the cans. Each brightly colored page is filled with the zaniness and dialogue balloons of the previous books. Older children will enjoy all the alphabetic wordplay and figuring out the missing letters with the help of the author's footnotes. Great fun!-Maura Bresnahan, Topsfield Town Library, MA

School Library Journal