FICTION

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover!

by Lucille COLANDRO
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover! illus. by Jared Lee. 32p. Scholastic/Cartwheel. 2012. pap. $6.99. ISBN 978-0-545-35222-2. LC number unavailable.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—In this goofy twist on the classic cumulative rhyme "There was an old lady who swallowed a clover… but she didn't roll over." Indeed, she also gulps down a daisy, a butterfly, a bird, a pot, gold coins, and a fiddle. At the end of this strange feast, she dances with a "wee little leprechaun" and her giggling causes a rainbow to pop out of her mouth. While not an obvious holiday selection, the book ends with a "Happy St. Patrick's Day!" wish. Lee's comically absurd cartoons will have children chuckling, but some of the rhymes are awkward to read aloud ("She swallowed the bird to glide with the butterfly"), and the explanations are often a stretch ("She swallowed the daisy to brighten the clover").—Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada
Reviewed by Linda Ludke , May 01, 2012

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