this is a silly book/ song about an old women who swallows a fly and other animals until she finally dies. The song builds up in the size of the animals. She swallows one to catch another animal. After she swallows the horse she dies.

This is a story that I enjoy using sign language to read to my students. It is fun and animated and they learn some neat signs for the animals. I also enjoy the ryhming of this book.

I have signed this story to tell it and that was a lot of fun. I have also seen the teacher dress up and use stuffed animals and put them into her shirt. The kids loved it. You could also talk about what it would feel like to have the different animals inyour stomach.

This classic silly song is reinvented in the Taback version. the illustrations are colorful and wacky, and reminded me somewhat of one of those cutout ransom notes, which follows the theme in some twisted way.

Fun pictures and rhyme. ( )

The old lady, as she is called, swallows a fly, but we don’t know why. However, we do know why she swallows the spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and horse. The book has a rhyming and sing-song feel. In the end the old lady dies because you can’t swallow a horse and expect to live!

I enjoyed reading the book because it has wild and crazy colorful pictures that would hold a child’s attention. The words appear as they were handwritten and painted instead of typed as is most expected. The cut outs were appropriate to show the insects and animals the lady swallowed--genius.

In the classroom, I would allow the children to illustrate their favorite part of the story with colorful designed papers, colored pencils, and markers. This would imitate the style of illustration used in the book. ( )

This age-old, "sing-song", rhyming story has delighted children for generations. The "yuckyness" of swallowing a fly and various other critters seems to strike a gleeful response from all.

I love this poem. It was read to me as a child and I have continued the tradition with my own children. Children seem never to tire of hearing it--and it is easy to memorize, so it is ready to tell all the time!

It would be fun in the classroom to make a mobile of all the critters that the old lady swallowed.