There was an old lady who swallowed a fly Author: Taback, Simms | ||
Price: $23.78 |
Summary:
A retelling of an old poem, with illustrations featuring die-cut holes of the expanding old lady's stomach.
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Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: LG Reading Level: 2.00 Points: .5 Quiz: 173385 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: K-2 Reading Level: 1.90 Points: 1.0 Quiz: 11377 | |
Awards:
Caldecott Honor, 1998
Common Core Standards
CC Maps Recommended Works Gde K-5
Grade K → Reading → RI Informational Text → K.RI Key Ideas & Details
Grade K → Reading → RI Informational Text → K.RI Craft & Structure
Grade K → Reading → RI Informational Text → K.RI Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade K → Reading → RI Informational Text → K.RI Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade K → Reading → RI Informational Text → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 1 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 1.RL Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 1 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 1.RL Craft & Structure
Grade 1 → Reading → RI Informational Text → 1.RI Key Ideas & Details
Grade 1 → Reading → RI Informational Text → 1.RI Craft & Structure
Grade 1 → Reading → RI Informational Text → 1.RI Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
Grade 1 → Reading → RI Informational Text → Texts Illustrating the Complexity, Quality, & Rang
Grade 1 → Reading → CCR - College & Career Readiness Anchor Standards
Grade 1 → Reading → RI Informational Text → 1.RI Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity
Grade 2 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 2.RL Key Ideas & Details
Grade 2 → Reading → RL Reading Literature → 2.RL Craft & Structure
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (09/15/97)
School Library Journal (12/97)
Booklist (03/15/98)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (03/98)
Full Text Reviews:
Bulletin for the Center... - 03/01/1998 Simms takes this familiar, oft-reillustrated rhyme/song and gooses it up with a tipsy-looking old lady, some editorializing animals, and some well-placed cutouts. The mixed-media and collage illustrations have rollicking compositions and eye-catching details, with the old lady gulping down the domestic fauna (viewed through a tummy cutout) while additional fauna make comic asides. The old lady’s body gets bigger and bigger and her expression becomes more and more maniacal, until the final moment of truth: after she swallows a horse, “she died, of course!” (The asides at this point include “I’m filled with remorse,” “It was the last course,” “It is such a loss,” “She had no time to floss,” “She missed out on the sauce,” and “What’s left to say. We’ll miss her dearly. Even the artist is crying.”) The final page includes the moral “Never swallow a horse” above a tombstone simply inscribed “Here lies an old lady.” This old lady has a gleefully irreverent charm that is going to make kids crow with laughter at the gluttonous silliness. - Copyright 1998 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
School Library Journal - 12/01/1997 PreS-Gr 3--From cover to moral (never swallow a horse), this cleverly illustrated version of an old folk favorite will delight children. Each page is full of details and humorous asides, from the names of different types of birds, to a recipe for spider soup, to the rhyming asides from the spectating animals. As for the old lady, with her toothy grin and round bloodshot eyes, she looks wacky enough to go so far as to swallow a horse. A die-cut hole allows readers to see inside her belly, first the critters already devoured and, with the turn of the page, the new animal that will join the crowd in her ever-expanding stomach. The pattern of the lady's dress, with its patchwork of bright, torn colored paper pasted on black, is used as the background motif for the words. The text is handwritten on vivid strips of paper that are loosely placed on the patterned page, thus creating a lively interplay between the meaning of the words and their visual power. All in all, this illustrator provides an eye-catching, energy-filled interpretation that could easily become a classic in itself.--Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI - Copyright 1997 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
Booklist - 11/15/1997 Although there are many versions of this perennial favorite, this is one of the funniest and most innovative yet. The funky art and the terrific humor are a winning combination. The song remains the same, but the animals involved add their own rhyming commentary on the situation: Says the cat of the fly, She gulped it out of the sky. The illustrations are cleverly handled. For example, a left-hand page shows the dog surrounded by other canine types, while the old lady is pictured on the opposite page, with a cutout in her dress that reveals a picture of everything she has swallowed so far; turn the page, and the cutout surrounds the next victim--in this case, the unfortunate dog. Newspaper headlines (Senior Swallows Cat and Lady Wolfs Down Dog) keep up with the story, and there's a moral at the close: Never swallow a horse. The many details in the artwork ensure a new surprise with each reading, making for a fun-filled romp for young and old alike. A brief note on the song concludes. (Reviewed November 15, 1997) - Copyright 1997 Booklist.