There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog!

August 29, 2016
Colandro and Lee have collaborated on no fewer than a dozen books featuring this voracious elderly woman, and in this outing she starts off by gulping down a live turkey: “I don’t know why she swallowed the turkey,” Colandro writes, “but she’s always been quirky.” (Truer words.) Lee captures the mounting chaos in scraggly illustrations that show the woman swallowing a football, boat, horn of plenty, and more—the perfect assortment, it turns out, to create an impromptu parade, once everything has been disgorged, of course. The rhymes are far from smooth, but the events are so preposterous that readers in the midst of laugh attacks are unlikely to care. Ages 4–6.

July 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 1-Yet another take on "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly!" In Colandro and Lee's ninth book about this old woman, first she swallows a frog (she was in a fog.) Then she proceeds to swallow some dirt, some seeds, the rain, the sunlight, some gloves, and finally a rake. ("That was a mistake!"). In the end, she burps out a colorful garden. The frog is returned to his flowery environment wishing everyone a "Happy Spring!" As in other books in the series, Lee has given the woman a very large mouth, so swallowing so many varied items is easy for her, except, of course, the rake. In the cartoon drawings, the colors are vivid and the illustrations are large, filling the spreads. VERDICT A possible choice for a springtime storyhour and an additional purchase for larger libraries.-Elaine Lesh Morgan, formerly at Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR

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