There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!

December 1, 2006
K-Gr 2-There was a cold lady who swallowed some snow, then a pipe, then coal, then a hat, and so forth. Written by Lucille Colandro (Scholastic, 2003), this title provides a different look at the old lady who swallowed a fly. Many such take-offs exist, and this is not the best of them. The items swallowed dont have a natural flow or sequence, as in other storiesthe bird eating the spider eating the fly, for example. The rhyming is sometimes rather stiff as well, and the finale is quite predictable. That, however, is the books strength. This is a story teachers will welcome for introducing the fine art of predicting outcomes. There are enough clues along the way that most students will know whats coming, and be delighted in being right when the cold lady hiccups up a snowman. The lively background music and enthusiastic narration by actor Skip Hinnant keep the story skipping merrily along to an unsurprising but fun ending that has a useful curriculum application."Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.