This is a very unique, clever, and funny story satirizing what could happen if you don’t eat your green beans.  Martha hates beans and even though her mother serves them for dinner every Tuesday night, she won’t eat them.  Until one day….a wild bunch of mean green beans ride into town and cause problems…especially for those who have said “eat your green beans.”  While Martha is sitting at the table staring at her plate she hears a ruckus and finds that her parents have been bean-napped by the mean gang.  At first she is delighted because now she’s her own boss.  But she’s also lonely and misses her parents.  She follows their trail and finds her parents tied up with bean vines.  She demands that they free her parents but the bean gang just laughs at her, ’cause really, what could she do?  She threatens to eat them but again they laugh because they know she won’t eat green beans.  But Martha pinches her nose and starts to munch away and soon her parents are freed.  Martha becomes a hero and her mother doesn’t serve green beans again.  The illustrations are a hoot and the mustaches, boots and hats really give the beans some character.  Makes a great read aloud and should be a purchase for elementary libraries.