Huckleberry Larry wants to help his new friend, Big Jim, a huge yellow gourd on the lam. Tomato Sawyer doesn't want to get involved, which strains his friendship with Larry.
Bob the Tomato is surprised to find Larry the Cucumber in a book club with Mr. Lunt, Archibald Asparagus and Jerry Gourd. They're reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. Well, not the book itself. Bob is dismayed to find they're all just reading notes about the book. Even that was a waste of time, Mr. Lunt decides, when it turns out the dramatized story of the day is "Huckleberry Larry and Tomato Sawyer." The story proves to be a very veggie version of the classic tale. Larry plays Huckleberry Larry, who wants to build a turkey jerky theme park. Bob is Tomato Sawyer who dreams anachronistically of a career in income tax preparation. Big Jim is a sweet-natured but intimidatingly large yellow gourd on the lam. Clark Wayne is the narrator, looking simultaneously like Mark Twain and Col. Sanders. The moral of the story comes from James 4:17: "If you know what is right to do, but you do not do it, you sin."—J. Spurlin
Should I help a person in need, even if it might require me to sacrifice something or endure some measure of hardship myself? Tom the tomato and Larry Cucumber help kids find the answer to this question through a humorous and thoughtful story loosely based on the famous characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Tomato Sawyer (Tom) and Huckleberry Larry are dreaming about what to do with their homestead when they inadvertently become involved in helping a giant gourd named "Little Jimmy" escape from his mean boss. Larry wants to help Little Jimmy travel down the Mississippi River to meet his mama at the fair in St. Louie, but Tom isn't so sure. After all, they might miss the government man who is coming to make their homestead ownership official, and they have waited five long years to claim that land as their own.
Tom and Larry agree to escort Little Jimmy down river and begin a trip full of adventurous peril -- until Tom decides that he has sacrificed enough. Refusing to leave his new friend in need, Larry stays with Little Jimmy while Tom heads back up to the homestead. A little reflection helps Tom have a change of heart, but will he be too late to do the right thing? [D-Man2010]
