Hey Diddle Diddle

Publishers Weekly

First published in James Marshall's Mother Goose (1979) and illustrated in his signature style, Marshall's Hickory, Dickory, Dock & Other Mother Goose Rhymes and Hey Diddle Diddle have been broken out as hand-sized board books. Both offerings crackle with Marshall's sly humor; an electric orange, green and yellow palette adds zip.

Children's Literature

The traditional, well-known nursery rhyme comes alive here in the ingeniously funny illustrations. Marshall has illustrated one line per page, thus showing a cool cat in a beret playing the bass fiddle, a short-legged cow just barely off the ground but over the moon, a laughing dog in a hammock, and a mustachioed-dish running off with a dressed-up spoon. There is a second verse here as well with a pink pig riding a rocking horse, a cat jumping over a toy house, a dog with a fiddle, and a trap running off with a mouse, all depicted under holly roping. For young children, one line per page is perfect. Adults will relish the humor in the pictures. Marshall is unique—no sweet, cutesy drawings here. Originally published in James Marshall's Mother Goose, a picture book published in 1979, this is a revision of the 1994 board book which was unavailable for comparison. 2003 (orig. 1979), Farrar Straus Giroux,
— Sharon Salluzzo

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

Babies love books that pop-up, flip-flop, or have something extra special about them. Marshall's illustrations for Hey Diddle Diddle expose babies to a favorite illustrator, a favorite Mother Goose rhyme, and more. A rattle lodged in the book's middle will give them opportunity to imitate the book's rhythms.