Review: The House that Drac Built

See on Amazon.com
See on Amazon.ca

Title: The House That Drac Built
Author: Judy Sierra (website)
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand (website)
Publisher: Sandpiper
Year: 1998
ISBN: 978-0152018795
Format: Paperback, also available in Hardcover
Pages: 32
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 3.5/5

The House that Drac Built is a Halloween take on the cumulative nursery rhyme "This is the House that Jack Built".   A more common example of a cumulative nursery rhyme is There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.  These tales start off simply but get progressively more complicated until they become a nice test of memory and in this case an impressive rhyming stream.


This is the house that Drac built.


This is the bat
That lived in the house that Drac built.


This is the cat
That bit the bat
That lived in the house that Drac built.

...


This is the coffin under the floor,
That fell on the monster whose bloodcurdling roar,
Startled the fearsome manticore,
That wrestled the werewolf,
That chased the cat,
That bit the bat,
That lived in the house that Drac built.


And so on.


Once all the monsters living in Drac's house have been described and their chaos listed, some trick-or-treating kids stop by and show that children are far more frightening to monsters than monsters are to children.  The kids soon have the monsters well in hand and things go back to their normal creepy state in the house that Drac built.


The rhyming text is clever, even if it is closely modelled on the original nursery rhyme.  The illustrations are well done too; the monsters look realistic enough to be believable without being very frightening.  And there's some nice foreshadowing (sometimes by a literal shadow) where you can see a hint of which creature is coming next on the page before it is introduced.


Boo pulled this randomly out of a library shelf one day and it amused him enough that we took it home.  Once we'd gotten into a rhythm reading it, he started loving it.  He seems quite fascinated by the pattern and will happily fill in the blanks when I pause for him.  In fact, I think he could recite the entire final verse from memory, except that he loses interest halfway through if I leave it entirely up to him.  He's not much for monologuing when we're not discussing ceiling fans or sunflowers.

I don't mind the book at all.  I find it quite fun to challenge myself to remember everything without looking.  I also must admit to being amused at my mother's dismay that I was reading something containing the words "Fiend of Bloodygore" to my two-year-old.  Happy Halloween, Mom!

Autism Spectrum Bonus:  Perfect for kids who are fond of Halloween and/or creepy monsters.  It's also perfect for working on memorizing lists and learning patterns.  Since there's so much repetition, you can also use it to try to prompt vocalizations by pausing before finishing lines once your child is familiar with it.

Bottom Line:
Nailed the concept of Halloween down,
With minimal aches in parental crowns,
And the bonus of Grandma's displeased frown,
All thanks to the toddler,
Who made us look,
And have fun with a book,
Named 'The House that Drac Built'.

Links:

The House that Drac Built on Amazon.ca

The House that Drac Built on Amazon.com

Review: Moose Tracks

Find on Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: Moose Tracks

Author: Karma Wilson (website)
Illustrator: Jack E. Davis
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Year: 2006
ISBN: 978-0689834370
Format: Hardcover, also available in Paperback
Pages: 32
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 3.5/5

Those of you who've been visited Sam and Boo before probably know of our fondness for Karma Wilson (see our reviews of Bear Snores On and The Cow Loves Cookies).  So, when we stumbled upon this in the library, we just had to borrow it for a peek.

Moose Tracks tells the story of an impressive socialite.  It seems he's had a multitude of friends over to visit in the past day, all of whom leave their mark on his property.  The bear leaves hair.  The goose leaves feathers.  The beaver leaves woodchips. The chipmunk leaves nut shells.  But he can't for the life of him figure out who left all the moose tracks, as none of his visiting friends is a moose.  It's a mystery, one that's humorously solved on the final page.

There are moose tracks in my kitchen,
and I'm itchin' to know why!
Some friends dropped over yesterday,
but not one moose stopped by.

Davis does a great job with the pictures.  The illustrations are complex, with lots of fun detail for kids to search through and enjoy.  The animals are a bit cartoony, but still seem quite human.  Boo's fond of finding the ladybug on the last page.

I must admit I don't enjoy this one as much as I do the other two of Wilson's books that we've read.  I'm not entirely sure why; Moose Tracks just doesn't strike me as quite as poetic and memorable.  That being said, the text still flows well and makes for a good read, one that Boo requests frequently.  For some reason it's all he's been wanting to talk about over dinner the last couple of nights...

Boo: Mama read Moose Tracks?
Sam (imagining returning the book to the library covered in pasta sauce): How about we finish dinner first, then read Moose Tracks?
Boo: Dinner first, then Moose Tracks?
Sam: Yep.  Dinner first, then we'll read Moose Tracks.
Boo (ponders this before grabbing two handfuls of spaghetti and jamming them in his maw): Dinner finished!
Sam:  Okay.  New deal.  Wash hands first, then Moose Tracks.

Autism Spectrum Bonus: There's lots here to work with, from identifying the various creatures, to counting moose tracks, to repeating "Moose Tracks", to making a game out of finding details, to talking about all the things each animal friend enjoys doing.  And whatever beliefs you have about how theory of mind relates to autism, I know I'm looking forward to when Boo's old enough to discuss the solution to the moose track mystery and why our unnamed protagonist can't or pretends to not be able to solve it.

Bottom Line:
'Moose Tracks' isn't on my book shelf.
Look, I just can't make it stay.
Boo's always dragging it out,
To read more every day.

Links:

Moose Tracks on Amazon.ca

Moose Tracks on Amazon.com

Review: In the Night Kitchen

For those of you who don't know, this is Banned Books Week a campaign of the American Library Association.  Celebrating banned books is encouraged every September as kids head back to schools and are presumably introduced to books their parents may or may not appreciate.

The Canadian Library Association, while not mounting a campaign per se, also keeps a list of all book challenges.  You can find the Canadian list for 2009 here: Challenges to Canadian Library Resources and Policies.  If you're from somewhere other than Canada or the US, there's a good chance your own library association keeps a list of books challenged in your country.  Go have a look; you're sure to find a book or two on it that will appeal.

In honour of Banned Books Week, I'll be reviewing three picture books which have been challenged repeatedly.  Here's the first:

Find at Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: In the Night Kitchen
Author/Illustrator: Maurice Sendak
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Year: 1970
ISBN: 978-0064434362
Format: Paperback, also available in hardcover
Pages: 40
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 4.5/5

In the Night Kitchen is of course a classic. Mickey, a child of about two or three, is awoken by noises in the night and falls out of his clothes and into a giant bowl of batter the Night Kitchen.  There are three bakers who apparently mistake Mickey for milk and mix him into the bowl and place it in the oven.  Luckily, Mickey escapes the oven, tells off the bakers, and turns some bread dough into an airplane, which he flies to the top of a giant bottle of milk.  Mickey swims in the milk and then pours some down for the bakers to make their cake.  Mickey then crows like a rooster and slides down the milk bottle and back into bed.

And he grabbed the cup as he flew up
And up
And up
And over the top of the Milky Way in the Night Kitchen.

Whew.  I wish I had more awesome dreams like that.  You know the ones: they enchanted you when you were a child and still do to a certain extent, though now you wonder what exactly it was you ate/drank/smoked yesterday to cause them.

The rhythm of the text is fantastic, but it's really the illustrations that carry the day here.  To me, the three bakers look like they're the identical triplet cousins of Oliver Hardy, although apparently Selmek may have been referring to the Holocaust with their small black mustaches and their baking of Mickey.  In any case, Mickey's irritation, frustration, wonder, and mischief all come through brilliantly.  The backgrounds are amazing, resembling the depression or wartime era Manhattan skyline made completely out of kitchen products and utensils.  The detail is astounding with Hosmer's Free Running Sugar, Kneitel's Fandango, Woody's Kosher Salt, and whatever Ta-Ka-Kake is supposed to be.  On second thought, I'm fairly sure I don't want to know...

The illustrations are also the reason the book has made challenged and banned book lists for years.  See, Sendak had the audacity to keep little naked Mickey anatomically correct.  It's not detailed, but Mickey definitely has a penis and testicles.  I'm not entirely sure what the problem of a naked three-year-old is, given that half the real ones on the planet would run around naked every day if given the choice, but apparently it's highly offensive in a children's book.

Sigh.

Boo loves the rhythm and rhyme of the text and the sing-song way in which we read it. He's been fascinated with the pictures from well before he was speaking, and he continues to love pointing out the stars and moon and milk et al.

And that's why, thanks to Mickey
We have cake every morning.

For a hint of irony on the whole book banning thing, I must admit to verbally editing the end of the book when we read it to say "we have milk every morning", but only because I don't want to start an argument with my literal little man on why pancakes aren't going to happen every day.

Autism Spectrum Bonus: In the Night Kitchen is almost a comic book in the way it relies on the pictures to tell the story which might appeal to more visual learners, while the rhythm and rhyme of the text might encourage vocalizations, especially during the bakers' two chants and the rooster crow at the end.  The incredibly detailed backgrounds give you plenty of opportunity to encourage pointing and interaction with Where's Waldo type questions like "Can you find an egg-beater?  What about a tomato?" And for those just  learning to name body parts, especially little boys, there aren't too many other picture books that allow you to practice "bum" and "penis" identification.

Bottom Line:
Boo takes the book to the reading nook
And climbs into Sam's lap for The Night Kitchen.

Links:

In the Night Kitchen at Amazon.ca

In the Night Kitchen at Amazon.com

Banned Books Week 2010

Review: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy

Find at Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy
Author/Illustrator: Lynley Dodd
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Year: 1983
ISBN: 978-1582460598
Format: Paperback
Pages: 32
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 4/5

Hairy Maclary, a Scottish Terrier, takes a stroll one day:

Out of the gate
and off for a walk

went Hairy Maclary

from Donaldson’s Dairy.

One by one, Hairy meets up with Hercules Morse (Great Dane), Bottomly Potts (Dalmation), Muffin McLay (English Sheepdog), Bitzer Maloney (Greyhound), and Schnitzel von Krumm (Dachshund) who all join him on his walk.  They sniff and snoop and scavenge and scratch, just like...well, pretty much every dog in existence.  They proudly march though their neighbourhood until they accidently come across Scarface Claw, the toughest tom in town.  Luckily our doggie troupe is not stupid, and with one hiss from Scarface they’re off and running as fast as their 24 feet can carry them.

As Hairy meets each of his friends, they’re named and described in a rhyming couplet, and every dog is repeated in order as each new one is added; very rhythmic and great for improving little memories.  Lynley Dodd is also very good at alliteration, using it sparingly but effectively.

My one quibble isn’t the fault of the author.  It's a difference between most Canadian accents and those of New Zealand.  I just can’t rhyme door with saw.  Well, I can, but only by crudely imitating my father’s English accent as it may have appeared before being overlaid by 45 years of life on this side of the pond.  Let’s just say it’s not a pretty sight, er, sound.

Boo’s loves the book, as long as I go easy on Scarface’s “EEEEEOWWWFFTZ!”  I was a little too enthusiastic with it the first time, and terrified him enough we didn’t get to that page again for four months.  Oops.

Autism Spectrum Bonus:  Because the dogs and their rhyming descriptions are recounted in reverse order each time a new one is introduced, there’s lots of opportunity to build anticipation, pattern recognition, and recall skills.  Once Boo was very familiar with the book (and after he’d fully recovered from my accidental discovery of his aural sensitivity to fake cat howling), we started pausing after each dog’s name and let him fill in the description.

Bottom Line:
Lynley Dodd
did a great job

Links:

Hairy Maclary at Amazon.ca

Hairy Maclary at Amazon.com

Review: At the Supermarket

Find at Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: At the Supermarket
Author/Illustrator: Anne Rockwell (website)
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Year: 2010
ISBN: 978-0805076622
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 32
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 3/5

At the Supermarket follows a young boy and his mom through a regular outing to buy food at, well, a supermarket, of course.  The boy narrates what foods they pick up and which ones he likes best.  It all culminates in him reminding his mother they need to pick up the ingredients for his birthday cake, which they of course do, promptly returning home to bake it.  Guess the trip wasn’t quite so mundane for the boy after all!

I saw this reviewed at Kidslit and thought it might be worth trying.  

It was.

Boo’s favourite part is the second page where “the door opens all by itself” is discussed.  He’s very big on anything that happens all by itself, himself, or herself right now, and magic doors are all the rage in his world.  He can talk about them for hours.  I’m not kidding.

This updated edition is illustrated by Anne Rockwell herself with help from her granddaughter.  I must admit to being a bit ambivalent about the results, but they’re certainly bright and colourful and get the idea of the products and setting across.  Boo has no trouble identifying the fruits and veggies, which he likes to point out while I’m listing each one.

I must confess that we actually substitute the term “grocery store” for “supermarket” while reading this, and thus that’s what Boo calls the book “Ah duh Groswy Doh”.  No one around here ever uses the term Supermarket, but it’s easy enough to change while reading, provided I’ve had some caffeine at some point to keep me quasi alert.  Good thing the boy and his mom buy coffee and tea!

Autism Spectrum Bonus: At the Supermarket is a great find for young kids on the spectrum, particularly those who crave routine and knowing exactly what is going to happen in advance.  While vague enough to apply to many countries and cultures (perhaps with a food/terminology substitution or two), it’s detailed enough to really give anxious kids an idea of what they can expect to happen at the store. It also introduces a wide variety of basic foods and household products; if your child enjoys the book enough, perhaps it may encourage him or her to try a food listed in it that they might otherwise be hesitant about.  The book also mentions that the little boy likes grapes best, while his mom prefers brown eggs, which might help you start a conversation about favourite foods and different preferences.

Bottom Line:

This book seems to open all by itself at the grocery store supermarket. 

Links:

At the Supermarket at Amazon.ca

At the Supermarket at Amazon.com

Review: Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Find at Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Author/Illustrator: Jan Thomas (website)Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-1416979760
Format: Hardcover, also available in Paperback
Pages: 40
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 3/5

Unsurprisingly, Rhyming Dust Bunnies is about dust bunnies that rhyme.  Well, three of them (Ed, Ned, and Ted) rhyme.  The fourth, Bob, doesn’t seem to be in tune with the others:

Ted: Hey! What rhymes with car?
Ed: far
Ned: jar
Ted: tar
Bob: Look!

The rhyming bunnies seem confused by this.  Ted even goes as far as putting a sympathetic (condescending?) hand on Bob’s shoulder and telling him “No, Bob... ‘Look!’ does not rhyme with car!”

Sadly, this doesn’t seem to help Bob, who each time the game is played answers with a non-rhyming interjection instead. 

For those of you above the age of toddlerhood, you’ve probably predicted that the others should be listening to Bob instead of telling him that he’s not rhyming.  Ed, Ned, and Ted do clue in when the ‘monster’ with the broom arrives, though it’s not enough in the end, and all four of our friendly dust bunnies end up getting an all-expenses paid tour of the inside of a vacuum cleaner.

This is how I know they’re not the dust bunnies in my house.  See, the vacuum doesn’t come out unless the queen (or my grandmother) is visiting...though we do have a small scary monster who sometimes waves a toy broom in the general direction of dust bunnies.

This book would be entertaining to toddlers, preschools, and beginning readers.  It’s certainly snort-worthy for adults.  Older kids will likely catch on that Bob is in the know rather than just bad at rhymes on page 2, whereas younger ones may take longer. 

I was surprised by how much Boo enjoyed this book.  Rhyming isn’t a concept we’d tried before, and I’m quite sure he still doesn’t really get it, but he enjoys the game of trying to guess whether a word rhymes with another word. 

He’s also really keen on the word “Thwptt!” which I probably could have predicted if I’d thought about it beforehand.

Autism Spectrum Bonus:   Apart from the lessons in rhymes, which kids with a fondness for word games will love, you might be able to discuss the emotions the dust bunnies are portraying; they have simple faces, but they’re quite expressive and go through a range of emotions.  Also, and this might be just me, but having read Temple Grandin’s quote (“After all, the really social people did not invent the first stone spear. It was probably invented by an Aspie who chipped away at rocks while the other people socialized around the campfire.”), I must admit that I can’t help but think of little blue Bob as possibly being on the spectrum, trying in vain to get his more social counterparts to focus on their surroundings rather than chat.

Bottom Line:

What rhymes with cute?
Lute
Newt
Fruit
Dust Bunnies!

Links:

Rhyming Dust Bunnies on Amazon.ca

Rhyming Dust Bunnies on Amazon.com

Review: Koala Lou

Find at Amazon.com
Find at Amazon.ca

Title: Koala Lou
Author: Mem Fox (website)
Illustrator: Pamela Lofts
Publisher: Sandpiper
Year: 1994
ISBN: 978-0152000769
Format: Paperback, also available in hardcover
Pages: 32
Age Range: Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 4/5

Koala Lou is the cutest koala around. Everyone loves her, especially her mother who, no matter what Koala Lou gets into, repeats the refrain “Koala Lou, I DO love you.” Eventually Koala Lou’s mother gets so distracted by her younger children (5!) that she no longer has time to tell Koala Lou how much she loves her. Koala Lou yearns to hear it again and sets out to win the gum tree climbing event at the Bush Olympics to make her mother proud.

The years passed and other koalas were born -- brothers and sisters for Koala Lou.
Soon her mother was so busy she didn’t have time to tell Koala Lou that she loved her.
Although of course she did.

Koala Lou trains very hard for the Olympics and performs admirably, but it’s not enough. She comes in second and having pinned all her hopes on winning and regaining her mother’s love, she is devastated. All is well in the end, however; Koala Lou creeps back home in despair only to be greeted by her mother, who throws her arms around her and announces “Koala Lou, I DO love you!”

The story is cute and cuddly, as are the illustrations. The opening pages give a nice sense of how much Koala Lou’s mother cares for her, and it’s hard not to feel bad for Koala Lou as she struggles to regain her mom’s attention. The rhyming repetition of “Koala Lou, I DO love you” is charming without being overly sweet, and Koala Lou’s despair at losing comes across loud and clear.

The book holds three important lessons that I can see, two for the kids and one for the parents.
1) Winning isn’t everything, effort is often just as important;
2) Parents love their kids, even if they don’t always take the time to say so; and
3) For goodness sake, remember to tell your kids how much you love them, repeatedly, even if you’re stressed to the gills.

For those of us who don’t live Down Under, this is a wonderful book to introduce animals different from the norm in most zoo books. Koalas and emus and platypuses, oh my! [Memo to the English language: please sort out the mess that revolves around pluralizing platypus and octopus. Thank you.]

Boo loves this story. After we read it, there’s a 95% chance his immediate response will be “Adain?” (to translate, replace ‘d’ with ‘g’).

Autism Spectrum Bonus: The repetition of “Koala Lou, I DO love you!” is a great place to pause and encourage imitation or verbalization once you’ve read the story through a few times. If your child has a Special Interest in animals, there are an abundance that he or she may be less familiar with, unless of course you’re Australian. In addition, the value of explicitly telling any child you love them is priceless, but even more so for children who may not make the connection between hugs (assuming hugs are desired or tolerated) or other fond body language and love. For older kids, the disconnect between how Koala Lou’s mother feels and what Koala Lou understands may also be a good start to a discussion on differing perspectives and assumptions. And Koala Lou’s devastation at losing and her subsequent cheering up may lead to helpful discussions if you’ve got an overly competitive and/or easily discouraged child on your hands.

Bottom Line:
Koala Lou, we DO love you!

Links:

Koala Lou at Amazon.ca

Koala Lou at Amazon.com

Review: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Find at Amazon.ca
Find at Amazon.com

Title: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Author: Bill Martin, Jr. (website)
Illustrator: Eric Carle (website)
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, LLC
Year:  1996
ISBN: 978-0805047905
Format: Board Book
Pages: 26
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler, Early Reader
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 2.5/5

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is of course a classic.  Originally published in 1967, this one’s been around long enough it’s technically possible that its first readers are sharing it with their grandchildren.  Okay, so they’d have to have had children young and their children had to have children young, but it is possible.  Without any laws having been broken, even. </weird tangent>

Brown Bear,
Brown Bear,
What do you see?
I see a red bird looking at me.

Each page has a colourful Eric Carle illustration of the animal being questioned, who sees another animal, who is in turn questioned on the next page.  Eventually, the chain of animals leads to a goldfish in a classroom, a teacher, and the children who can see everyone along the way.  Cue summary page!

The book is wonderful visual stimulation for babies, encourages animal and colour identification in toddlers and preschoolers, and the simplicity and repetition of the text should make it a win for beginning readers, too. The group of children at the end are a delightful mix of genders and ethnicities; every child should be able to find someone that looks reasonably similar to them.  Hmm.  I'd be interested in knowing if the original spread in the 1967 edition was as ethnically diverse.  

Boo has loved this book since he was about 9 months old.  We always read it in the same rhythm, with the same intonation, and we were (eventually) rewarded with the first large-scale verbal mimicry from him.  “BROWN bear, BROWN bear, WHAT do YOU SEE?”  translated to “DUM da DUM da MA ba MA BA!”, which he would do repeatedly while turning the pages, effectively reading to himself.  It’s also one of the books (along with Bright Baby Colors) that brought out his first proximal points.  His ability to jab a finger at the yellow duck on command was a brilliant moment in our house.

It’s a fun read, but repetition does get fairly tedious after the third time in a row, hence the middle of the road Adult Sanity Factor.  Especially when you throw Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear into the mix...

Autism Spectrum Bonus: The brightly coloured and stylized animals are alone on a white (or black, in the case of the white dog) page, with no distracting backgrounds to take away from listening to the rhythm of the text or learning the animals and colours.  The teacher is also alone on her page, which may allow for eye contact practice on something recognizably human but stylized enough to be (possibly?) reasonably comfortable.  And because the text is repeated so often, it’s the perfect book to pause during, hopefully eliciting continuing vocalizations in kids who don’t do so often. 

Bottom line:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?
I see a series purchased by me.  (sigh)

Links:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear at Amazon.ca

Brown Bear, Brown Bear at Amazon.com

Review: There was an old lady who swallowed a fly

Find on Amazon.ca
Find on Amazon.com

Title: There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
Author/Illustrator: Pam Adams
Publisher: Child’s Play International
ISBN: 978-0859530217
Format: Board Book, also in paperback and hardcover
Pages: 18
Age Range: Baby, Toddler, Preschooler
Kid Love Factor: 4/5
Adult Sanity Factor: 2.5/5

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly once sat solidly in the list of Boo’s favourite books; for many months, we ‘read’ it together almost every evening. I use the term read loosely in this case. Because this is such a classic children’s story/song, I don’t actually pay much attention to the words. In fact, once Boo can read for himself, we’re going to need a long discussion on regional differences and why Mommy sings the story slightly ‘wrong’.

The titular old lady appears on the cover, smiling benevolently at all who behold her. She’s rather eclectically dressed and can’t be described as anything less than morbidly obese. Which is about what you’d expect from someone who can swallow an entire cow, I suppose. Also visible is a small blue fly in the center of her belly.

Once you open the cover, you’re again greeted by the same image. But this time, the fly in her belly is visible due to a hole in this page and all the ones that follow it. The fly is actually part of the illustration on page 16. Opposite, there’s a brightly coloured page with another picture of our poor little blue fly, this time flying and sans elderly gastric juices, but with a big green spider on a nearby web.

The following page is similar, only this time the hole in the old lady’s stomach on the right is large enough that you can now see the green spider that surrounds the fly on page 16. On the left is the spider with an approaching robin.

The book continues like this, all the way through the traditional bird, cat, dog, cow, and horse verses. Each animal is pictured on the appropriate page, with a foreshadowing image of the next animal in the sequence beside it. The hole on the right continues to get larger to let you see each surrounding animal, and the hole on the left nicely reminds you of the previous verses on the off chance you haven’t already read or sung the lyrics 87,631 times already. The spiral text may be good practice for those just starting to get a handle on this whole reading gig, too.

After the final verse, there's an extra double page spread that repeats the entire song and has a picture of the old lady chasing a horse, who's chasing a cow, who's chasing a dog, etc.

Although I’m very fond of the illustration of the old lady herself, I can’t say the animals thrill me very much. They’re quite stylized, which they have to be to fit in the not-exactly-natural setting they find themselves in, but I don’t find most of them to be aesthetically pleasing. Boo, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to mind at all. The drawings and backgrounds are certainly brightly coloured, which provides ample visual stimulation.

On the up side, the spider picture is stylized enough that even an arachnophobe like me has no trouble looking at it. Though come to think of it, maybe this book is the reason I'm having the trouble I am with this one.

As I said, I don’t typically read this book to Boo; I sing the song as I was taught it. There are only minor differences between this book’s version and the one I grew up with, the main one of which lets me add a bit of a game to the song. Every time we sing the line about the spider, which is “wiggled and jiggled and giggled inside her” in my version (as opposed to “wriggled and wriggled and jiggled”), Boo gets tickle attacked. This results in loud baby laughter just in time for the word ‘giggled’. Great for building interactions and anticipation as well as basic animal labelling.

There was
An old lady
Who swallowed a horse.

She’s dead, of course.

Autism Spectrum Bonus: The book is very brightly coloured, which may appeal either more or less to those with sensory processing differences than to the more neurotypical among us. There are lots of opportunities to encourage imitation through animal noises, gestures, or signs. The repetitive nature of the book may also be good for prompting otherwise rare vocalizations. This was one of the first books to allow Boo to anticipate and seek out contact. Before long, he'd be leaning into us when we got to the spider line, anticipating his tickle. If we were singing the song while doing something else, he'd always make sure to come within arms' reach for the spider's segment as well, just so we'd make him giggle. Very rewarding interaction (i.e. pure glee) for his parents, and fun for him. For older and/or more verbal children, there can be discussions about the old lady's viewpoint and why she thought eating all those animals was a good idea even when your child clearly knows differently. Some kids may also be interested in talking about why the ending is humourous.

Bottom Line:
There was a cute board book with colours and holes,
Not bad, all told.
Links:

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly on Amazon.ca

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly on Amazon.com