Authors Live Extra: There's Broccoli In My Ice Cream! by Emily MacKenzie

I'm going to sit here and read to you.

‘There's broccoli in my ice cream’.

There was nothing good about fruit and vegetables in Granville’s opinion. Why on earth would anyone want to eat green things that crunched, yellow things that mushed and red things that squashed, especially when there were so many sweet, sugary, cakey things, cold, creamy, slurpy things and chocky, wocky, gooey things to eat instead?

(Do you like choccy wocky, gooey things?)

‘But Granville,’ said Mum. ‘Vegetables are soo good for you!’

‘You'll grow up to be big and strong, just like me’ said Dad.

‘Look, Dino loves crunchy apples’ added his sister Poppy.

(There's Poppy there, look!)

‘and you won't be able to see in the dark if you don't eat your carrots’ warned Uncle Bob.

(Look he's got a hat that says, I love peas!)

But Granville didn't care because he felt big and strong already. And if Dino wanted to eat apples, that was fine by him. The trouble was that no-one in Granville’s family gave up that easily. Granville knew that hidden on his plate of things that he did like, he would always find a vegetable lurking somewhere.

'Urgh! Blurgh! Yuck! Why are there veggies in my ice cream!?’

(Look his ice cream’s got peas and sweetcorn in.)

Being the youngest in a very long line of greengrocers and prize-winning gardeners, Granville’s hatred of all things green and juicy was rather disappointing. Especially for his Grandpa Reggie - proud owner of Reggie's Veggies Van.

(Look, his grandpa has his own fruit and vegetable van.)

He was passionate about parsnips, mad about mushrooms, and absolutely bonkers about broccoli. He had even won an award for his marvellous fruit and vegetables. The magnificent magic watering can. It made everything he planted grow faster and taste even more delicious.

(Look, it's down there!)

So you see, Granville’s hatred of broccoli and beans, peaches and pears and cabbages and courgettes just wouldn't do. One night, while Granville was fast asleep, his family gathered in Grandpa Reggie's potting shed for a top secret meeting and hatched a plan. There's Uncle Bob walking to the meeting in the shed. The next morning, they put their plan into action.

‘Grandpa Reggie,’ said Poppy innocently, ‘What would you like for your birthday?’

‘How about a new toothbrush?’ said Mum.

‘A pair of socks?’ suggested Dad. ‘Or a jigsaw perhaps?’ said Uncle Bob.

Poor Grandpa, thought Granville. Those presents sound so boring.

‘Grandpa, tell me what you really like and I'll make sure you get it’ he whispered.The plan was working.

‘Well Granville, funny you should ask’ said Grandpa Reggie.

‘What I'd really love for my birthday is for you to grow me something that we can eat together. I can even let you borrow my magnificent magic watering can’.

‘Okay!’ said Granville, surprising everybody.

That afternoon, Grandpa Reggie took Granville to the veggie patch to show him what to do. They weeded, raked, dug holes, planted seeds, watered the seedlings and picked the crops.

At the end of the day they had a huge basket of fruits and vegetables to sell from Reggie's Veggies Van.

The next morning, Granville arrived at the veggie patch bright and early. He couldn't wait to get started on a plan of his very own. ‘Surely’, he thought, licking his lips, ‘If Grandpa's watering can is really magic, then anything I plant could grow to be big and delicious’.

(What do you think he's going to do? Plant all the seeds?)

So Granville sowed pizza slices and burgers, sweets and chocolate bars, cream cakes and biscuits and lots and lots of ice cream and jelly. Grandpa Reggie was going to love his special birthday garden. Granville was sure of it.

(Sounds like a funny garden to me…!)

At last, it was Grandpa's birthday. Grandpa wanted to open his presents at the veggie patch. So everybody followed him there…

(They're walking to the veggie patch with a nice big balloon!)

where they found Granville and the most extraordinary garden. Nobody had ever seen a jelly jungle or a pizza plant before, let alone an absolutely enormous knickerbocker glory tree.

(Look at that huge ice cream plant!)

‘Ta da! Happy birthday Grandpa’ shouted Granville. ‘Come and have a taste, Grandpa, it's delicious’.

(Wow!)

Oh, dear. The family plan had failed most spectacularly. It was time to try something drastic.

(Think Grandpa Reggie’s going to pretend he doesn't like ice cream…?)

‘Urgh, Blurgh, Yuck’ said Grandpa Reggie, winking at the others. Granville was very disappointed indeed that Grandpa Reggiedidn't like his present. ‘The only way you'll get me to try any of that yucky ice cream is if you try eating some of this tasty broccoli I grew for you’. Granville went quiet. Well, maybe he could have just a little tiny taste to make Grandpa happy on his birthday.

So he bravely opened his mouth, closed his eyes, nibbled, chewed and gulped. Granville’s family waited nervously for the verdict, until he surprised them all.

‘Actually Grandpa, broccoli isn't too bad’, he declared.

‘In fact, it's really rather yummy’.

‘Hooray! Yippee! Woohoo!’

Everybody celebrated Grandpa Reggie's birthday and Granville’s broccoli bravery long into the night with the most wonderful ice cream and broccoli banquet. From that day forward, Granville loved broccoli. He even tried lots of other juicy fruit and crunchy vegetables too.

Grandpa Reggie was so proud of him that Granville was allowed to use his magnificent magic watering can whenever he wanted. And just like Grandpa Reggie. Granville’s, customers love the things that he grew.

‘Roll up, roll up! Come and get your broccoli ice cream.’

(Look, he is selling broccoli ice cream from the van.

Well, that's the story finished.

There they are sharing a lovely big broccoli ice cream.)

'Now that I've read the story to you, would you like to learn how to draw Granville?'

'Yeah!'

'Yeah? I'm going to come over here and start drawing our own Granville. So, boys and girls, would you like to get your own paper and pencils, pass them around and we can start drawing. I'm going to do mine in black and red over here.'

'Are we ready? Are you ready in your classroom? Have you got your pencil ready?'

'Yeah!'

'Yeah. Are we good to go? Okay, so I'm going to start up here, and we're going to draw a nice big triangle for Granville's ear, and I'm going to colour it in with a bit of scribbly black. And then we're going to draw a bridge like that to another triangle and colour that in with a bit of scribble as well. Brilliant.So now we've got two triangles and a line, and we're going to start here again and we're going to draw a line the other way to make the rest of his head. So we're going to go around like that. So we've got a circle with two triangles attached. They all look great.'

You don't need to worry about using your rubbers because they're all lovely the way they are. So should we draw his nose and mouth shape? Now, this is maybe going to be this the trickiest shape that we're doing, but if you just follow along with me, we're going to start in the middle, and we're going to draw a line down like this and then a little line down like that, and then a slightly curly line round and then another curvy line down.'

'These are so good! And then a line like that, sort of like a number three kind of. And then we're going to do with a nice big black blob there for his nose. And now we've got his nose and mouth. Do you think Granville needs some eyes?'

'Yeah!'

'Okay. Right. Let's draw two big ovals like this. Yes. And then should we draw the middle of his eye?'

'The dots in the middle of his eyes are called pupils. So we'll draw two nice big pupils, and then we're going to give him some eyebrows. Shall we give him some eyebrows?'

'No.'

'Okay, well, I'm good to draw his eyebrows. You don't need to draw them if you don't like, don't want to. But his eyebrows are like that. Two nice, big curvy lines. And we make his smile a bit bigger. And then we've got Granville's head. Oh, you've got such nice dogs in the front row. I can see them all, they're lovely!'

'Okay. The next bit, I'm going to draw his neckerchief. He's got a red and white handkerchief around his neck.We're going to draw, start about here and draw like that. So we're drawing like a big triangle attached to his head. Okay. And then we're going to put some lines on it. So it's like he's got checks on his handkerchief, neckerchief, and then at the side, I'm going to do sort of two leaf shapes that look like they're the bit where it's knotted at the back. You can leave them off if you don't want to do that bit.'

'Have we all done that bit? Yeah? Okay, let's draw Granville's body.'

'So going to start up here again and we're going to draw round and make a nice big curvy line. So it's like he's got an ovalattached to his round head.'

'That's true.'

'Yeah, that's his belly. That's his tummy.'

'He’s a snowman dog!'

'So now we're going to give him some arms. Should we give him some arms? So I'm going to start here and then draw one line like that, and then one line underneath, and drawing them up with four fingers. One, two, three, four. Now, if you want to do the same onthe other side, you can. But I'm going to draw his arms sticking up and waving. So going to go up like this and like that. So we've got two lines and then one, two, three, four fingers. So then I'm going to draw some lines. So it looks like he's waving at you.'

'Now, what's missing? Does he need some legs?'

'Yes.'

'Okay.'

'And feet!'

'… and feet, yes!'

'So for the legs, we're going to draw one, two and then leave a space, three, four lines coming off the oval at the bottom. Okay.And now he needs his boots. Shall we draw his boots?'

'So I'm going to do his boots in red. So I'm going to start here and go along, round and back up. And on the other side,we're going to do the same, but the other way round.'

'So along, down, round and back up again. And then I'm going to colour them in with a bit of red, a bit of red scribble.So should we give him a tail? Yeah? No? I'm going to give… I think I'll give him a tail at the side. So we're going to go out there, and curve round and then go back again and then it's joined on and that is Granville's body.'

'Do you think he needs some spots? He's a spotty dog. He's a Dalmatian.'

'Like 101 dalmatians?'

'Yeah.'

'Well, I'm going to add on his spots. So Granville,you might be able to see on here. He's got spots in particular spaces,so he has a really big one on his belly like this. And then he has one over here, and they don't need to be neat. You can draw his spots wherever you like. And then one on this leg and one on this leg. And I think we'll put some at the end of his tail…'

'I’ve coloured in his tail!'

'You've coloured in his tail? That's alright.'

'And then I'm going to give him a spot here and one on that arm. And should we do some on his face?'

'Yeah!'

'Yeah?'

'He has a nice big spot on this cheek and one here at the top of his head, and then one on this cheek. Looks quite happy, doesn't he?So I'm going to colour my Granville in with a bit of… I've got my brush and my black crayon and my brush already has water inside itso I'm going to do some black to make him a bit more like the Granville in the book.'

'Do any of you like to paint? Do you like using paint?'

'So I’m going to make all his spots nice and coloured in with inky paint like that. And I might do the same for the red. These are watercolour too, so they’re like pencils and paint at the same time.'

'Wow'

'They're really fun to draw with and paint with. So he's got nice, bright red boots and I'll put some red on his neckerchief.Like that. And then now I think he looks finished. So this is finished Granville! Can I see your Granvilles?'

'Wow! Cool! They look so good! I hope you enjoyed drawing him. That’s us done.'

I thought we'd talk about fruit and veg. And I love fruit and vegetables. But some vegetables I like more than others. And some fruits I like more than others. So I thought I'd draw some of the ones over here that I like to eat. And you can tell me whether you like eating them too, okay?

So put your hands up if you like eating… Who likes eating tomatoes?Oh, that's quite a lot of you don't like tomato. Do some of you think that they’re a bit yuk?

Well, I also love eating…carrots. Hands up if you like carrots. That's nearly everybody.Hands up if you like carrots in your classroom. I need to draw the green bit at the top, don't I?So here is a lovely, big, juicy carrot. I know a little girl that only likes to eat carrots if they're cut into round shapes. She doesn't like them when they're long chip shapes like that.

That’s what I do!

Is that what you do?

I might draw a fruit now. Who likes to eat… juicy apples? Quite a lot of you. That's good.

I don’t like green apples

You don't like green apples, do you like red apples?

Only like red apples.

And do any of you like to eatpears?

Pears are yummy

Pears are yummy.I think pears are really yummy. I think pears are delicious. Who likes… lemons?

Me!

Loads of you. I think more of you like lemons than like pears.And should I draw another vegetable?

Yes

Now, I might draw one that's a little bit tricky. Do any of you know what this might be?

It’s an avocado!!!

No it’s not

It's purple.Like a dark purpley black.

I think I know. Is it an onion?

No. Do any of you like aubergines?

Oh, yeah.

I've seen one of them.

You've seen them before.Put your hand up if you like potatoes.

I only like mashed potato.

Only mashed potato. My little boy only likes chips.He doesn't like mashed potato.

But potatoes are chips!

I know.Who likes mushrooms?

EWWWWWWW

I love mushrooms. I think they're lovely. And should I draw one more fruit? I think I'll draw one more fruit. How about a juicy strawberry?

Yeah, I love strawberries

Loads of you like, that's nearly everyone, I think.Hands up in the classroom, if you like strawberries. I love strawberries. So I've drawn loads of fruit and vegetables now.