BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Taback, Simms.1997.There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.Ill. by Simms Taback. New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN: 0670869393 ISBN-13: 9780670869398
PLOT SUMMARY:
This is a story about an old lady who swallows a fly. We don’t know why she swallowed a fly and by the look on her face she doesn’t like it either, but ooh she did and this will make you laugh out loud. The Old Lady obviously thinks she needs to get rid of the fly (what was she thinking) so she thinks she needs to “swallow a spider that wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. I don’t know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she’ll die.”(Taback 1997) This eating frenzy turns into a snowball effect with the old lady swallowing a menagerie of animals (bird, cat, dog, cow, and horse) while continuing to grow larger and larger with each animal consumed. It is fun to watch the expressions on her face and the looks on the animals’ faces with each swallowing. Last she swallows a horse and she dies, of course. “Moral of the story – Never swallow a horse.”(Taback 1997) The animals she had eaten offered a eulogy at her demise. Cow said, “It was the last course.” Cat said, “It is such a loss.” “Even the artist is crying….”(Taback 1997) Not to worry she will be remembered because this story will be read/sung over and over again. Of course!
CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she’ll die.”(Taback 1997) This story is one of my all-time favorites and I can’t start it without wanting to sing the story. The cover of the book says it all showing a very colorful old lady, gray hair, large hat, surprised blood shot eyes, reading glasses, round open mouth surrounded with teeth and a fly inside. You can’t help but laugh and think, “oh, gross.” The rhyming poem makes this an easy story to learn, quickly making it an immediate favorite of children. Simms Taback has taken it a step further and added humorous recipes for spider’s soup, a newspaper article about a cat attacked, with a picture of the old lady, missing dog ad, and more. This allows the adults and older children to enjoy the story with added humor making it not only a children’s story, but one for any age.
Simms Taback was not only the author of this book, but the illustrator also. The artwork was done using watercolor, Gouache, pencil, and ink. His use of the shiny black and yellow backgrounds allowed the stories characters to come alive. The die cut effect (which is a way of cutting shapes into the paper) was fun in allowing the reader to see inside of her stomach with each swallowing and to see the look on the animals faces at their unfortunate fate of being eaten. Readers should be sure to look at the page with the birds on the branch for each one is different and labeled with their names. The page of the cow shows all the items that come from the milk of a cow. I was also impressed with the back cover of the book showing 18 different types of flies with their names labeled. Who knew there were so many? This is a great story for all ages. Just a bit of trivia on Simms Taback - he designed the first McDonald’s happy meal box in 1977.
REVIEW EXCERPTS:
Children's Literature
This song is a favorite with children, although, you might wonder why, perhaps it is the rollicking rhythm and the simple absurdity of it all. Taback takes the song to new heights in his interpretation. The die cut artwork lets kids look inside this unusual looking old lady's stomach to see what is going on. There is plenty to grab kids attention both in her stomach and in the asides and other goodies tucked within the page. It's a wild and wacky version that offers lots of colorful visual humor. Caldecott Honor book.
School Library Journal
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
Kirkus Reviews
A die-cut hole approach to an old favorite that offers a view of the old lady's stomach and its expanding bestiary. The text has the look of a ransom note (a touch the devoured creatures might appreciate), but the jaunty colors—set skipping by a judicious use of black—keep the dark side of the poem at bay. Those accustomed to the streamlined version of this ditty won't know what to make of the comments scattered throughout the pages, little asides quipped by animals not yet swallowed; these rhyme with the "perhaps she'll die" line of the poem. Fortunately, these additions can be easily ignored or inflated according to taste, and full concentration given to the poem itself and the wild, eye-catching artwork: It is good fun to watch the old lady bulge and bloat, and the sheer corniness of the verse continues to be deeply gratifying.
CONNECTIONS:
Other similar stories:
Colandro, Lucille. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!. ISBN-13: 978-0439737661; ISBN-10: 0439737664
Colandro, Lucille. There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell!. ISBN-13: 978-0439873802; ISBN-10: 0439873800
Websites with Activities, Games and Lesson Plans: http://www.kizclub.com/storypatterns/swallowed(c).pdf
http://teachingheart.net/oldladybat.html
http://teachingheart.net/oldladyshell.html
www.castlehill-p.schools.nsw.edu.ax.../There%20Was%20an%20Old%20Lady%20Who%
AWARDS/HONORS:
Best Illustrated Books designation, New York Times, 1965, for Please Share That Peanut! A Preposterous Pageant in Fourteen Acts; Children's Book of the Year selection, American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1970, for There's Motion Everywhere, 1979, for Joseph Had a Little Overcoat, and 1980, for Laughing Together; Notable Book designation, American Library Association (ALA), 1998, and Caldecott Honor Book, ALA, 1998, both for There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly; Caldecott Medal, 2000, for newly illustrated edition of Joseph Had a Little Overcoat.
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