Hey, Diddle Diddle

Children's Literature - Martha Shaw

This illustrated poem continues the adventures of the cow after she jumped over the moon in the famous Mother Goose verse. Readers watch the antics of the spoon and the dish, and instead of the dog, view what happens to a little boy. The dish, spoon and little boy travel to a restaurant, meet a baboon waiter and piano-playing poodle, and eventually reunite with the space-traveling cow. This contrived, prosaic tale falls flat. The plot is concocted for the convenience of a rather forced rhyme. The illustrator does his best, but the garish production is mawkish and flawed. For the illustrator's sake, the characters should have all been animals, with no humans added to strain his technical ability. Care should have been taken on not only the foreground of pictures, but certainly on the background (even when the boy is in the background, it's important to get him right)! Almost is just not good enough on both the writer and illustrator's part. Part of the "Extended Nursery Rhymes" series. 1999 (orig.

School Library Journal

PreSThis attempt to extend the well-known nursery rhyme falls flat. The rhymes are forced, and actions are dictated by the need for a rhyming verse rather than as a logical plot development. The pictures are even worse than the poorly written text. The characters are corny and lifeless. The little boy (the dog in the original) is just plain creepy looking with his tiny arms and oversized head. An iridescent coating has been put over some of the white and silver parts of the pictures, giving them a sheen similar to pastry with an egg wash. If you are looking for a story that builds on a favorite rhyme, try Robin Muller's Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Firefly, 1995) or Keith Baker's Big Fat Hen (Harcourt, 1994).Dawn Ibey, Vancouver Public Library, Canada