Summary of book:
In Petunia, Beware! by Roger Duvoisin the foolish goose, Petunia, always tries to eat the grass on the other side of the fence. One day, she leaves home and wanders far away to try grass that isn’t greener or tastier! Soon she gets caught by the Weasel, Fox, Raccoon, and Bobcat. As soon as she can, she runs home to her wonderful green grass and is then content and glad to have the best grass in the valley.

Personal reaction to the book:
Roger Duvosin’s story has a good outlook on life that can easily be portrayed to students of young ages. A lot of students want things that their friends have and do not think of the responsibilities and other necessary duties that must happen to get these things. Other things such as lifestyles and money always look greater from one’s view until they see all the hardships and work that is put into having those things. Petunia, Beware! has several aspects that draw attention to the point of the story. The illustrations themselves could tell the story without any literary captions.

Extension ideas:
1. Ask the students if there is any celebrity, sports star, or author that they wish they could be. Have them write reasons why they wish to be this person and what they would do. The teacher could then have the students write what they would miss out of their lives now if they were to become that person.
2. For a Thanksgiving theme, have the class individually list things that they are thankful for and/or positive reasons as to why the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.
3. Have the students write a story about an incident when they were told not to do something but did it anyway. Ask them, “what was the outcome?”, “who warned you?”, and “why didn’t you listen?”. ( )