John Vernon Lord

This kooky story has been around for 30 years and is about a severe problem that the folks of Itching Down were having when four million wasps flew into town. It tells how the townsfolk figured out a brilliant plan to solve that problem. The rhyming text is fun to read and my kids and I had it memorized in no time and went around the house saying it aloud and laughing our heads off. Even though we've always had a pretty big library of bedtime stories this was the hands down favorite of my show more four boys and one of mine as well. At first I wasn't too thrilled with the illustrations because they're really cartoonish but the zany characters, all up in arms about the winged menace are actually a perfect compliment to the fun-loving text and they have really grown on me. In this day of chemical pollutants maybe a giant jam sandwich isn't too silly of an idea anyway! show less

There's not much to say that hasn't been said. A zillion and a half wasps invade the town of Itching Downs (really, with a name like that, what do you expect? So it's not a waspish sort of town, the wopsies clearly think it is!), and, having apparently depleted the options of "evacuate" and "wait for the first killing frost" and "use up our hoarded stores of illegal DDT" the townspeople decide to get rid of the wasps with - get this - a GIANT JAM SANDWICH. (You didn't see that one coming, show more did you?) Most people would have made many many regular jam sandwiches and have been done in half the time, but no, these people think big.

They bake a HUGE loaf of bread, use up a HUGE jar of jelly, and SLAM the wasps in between two slices. No more wasps. No more problems. (Well, I guess the wasps figure there's a problem, but this isn't there book, now is it?)

Love the rhymes. Not too thrilled with the artwork, but I can overlook it. show less

Had this for a few years and still love it - brilliant setup, great rhymes, mad pictures, scary faces, flying tractors, over-theatrical characters. Can't go wrong.

I really enjoyed this book for many reasons. First, I really enjoyed the plot of the story because it was different and unique. I liked how the town worked together to create a solution to rid the town of the bees. The idea of making a giant jam sandwich was a unique plot idea for a children story and the plot was well developed. The story moved along quickly as well so it never had dull moments. Another reason why I liked this story was the illustrations. The illustrations are realistic and show more well detailed and carried the story very well. The illustrations also have a lot going on which can be visually appealing to young children because there is a lot to look at but it is not overstimulating. The main idea of this story is that if you work together with a group of people, you can come up with a solution for a common problem and reach a common goal. show less