Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again

October 1, 2008
Gr 12-In this skewed extension of the nursery rhyme, Humpty is a climbing enthusiast who gives up his hobby after a "great fall." His doctor admonishes him to be more careful: "for Pete's sake, you're an egg!" Depressed, Humpty sits around the house in his underwear until he unexpectedly finds himself in a position to rescue one of the king's horses from a mountain ledge. Successful and invigorated, he resumes his favorite activity, but with less risk-a postscript informs readers that he now uses safety equipment. Horowitz combines short sentences with Mother Goose rhyme patterns and includes not only characters from Humpty's story, but also others that children should know well: the Dish and the Spoon, the little laughing dog, Miss Muffett's spider. The cartoon art is funny but unevenwhile Humpty's expressions nicely evoke the poor egg's mood, the backgrounds look a little slapdash. The result is a lightweight but charming addition to the popular subgenre of "fractured" nursery stories and fairy tales."Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NC"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2008
Preschool-K After his fall, Humpty Dumpty is depressed and refuses to climb a single wall. All the Kings Men make fun ofhim as he sits slumped in his underwear watching TV, too dejected to move. Then Spider comes along and frightens Humpty Dumpty out of the house (while he is still in his underwear). He ends up back at the wall, which he climbs again toperform a heroic rescue (What a brave egg!).Illustrated withbig, clear, line-and-watercolor cartoons, Horowitzs simple rhyming text is both a parody of nursery rhymes and a fun story.Children will enjoy the puns and the play with the Mother Goose verses that they know, especially the appearance of familiar characters, such as theLittle Dog that laughs at poor Humpty Dumpty and the Dish who runs away with the Spoon. Even the final triumph includes a twist: Humpty Dumpty vows to always climb with the proper safety equipmentand his pantsin the future.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)