Anne Bowen

Honestly I found this kind of disturbing, and I have no idea what my 2.5yo thought of it. The original ("I know an old lady who swallowed a fly") gets *so* absurd (swallowing a cow, a horse, etc.) that it's not as disturbing. But here it's a teacher swallowing classroom pets, that are, actually, swallowable (snake, spider, lizard). So, probably brilliant for someone, but for me, umm, ick.

A silly and a slightly gross retelling of the old nursery rhyme. Gross to parents and adults, but loads of fun to the children screaming "eww." Great for Halloween read a-louds.

Honestly I found this kind of disturbing, and I have no idea what my 2.5yo thought of it. The original ("I know an old lady who swallowed a fly") gets *so* absurd (swallowing a cow, a horse, etc.) that it's not as disturbing. But here it's a teacher swallowing classroom pets, that are, actually, swallowable (snake, spider, lizard). So, probably brilliant for someone, but for me, umm, ick.

In this modern fantasy story, the teacher eats all the class pets. It is a cumulative story which children will learn the words to quickly.

This is a boy friendly book because it has the gross factor. On several pages, the teacher's expressions are a bit nauseating. As usual, I love Stephen Gammel's colorful illustration style.

In the classroom, I would point out the rhyming words in the story. I would also put together a thematic unit on I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly books.