There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
By Simms Taback
Caldecott Honor book 1998

In this cumulative tale, an old lady swallows a fly and then proceeds to swallow a spider to catch the fly, but then she needs to swallow a bird to catch the spider and so one, until she finally dies when she swallows a horse to catch the cow.

This author chose a very creative way to help the reader visualize each of the living creatures that the old lady swallowed; holes cut strategically into the pages so that the reader can actually see them in her stomach. As a child, I can remember this cumulative American folk tale being sung to me and demonstrated using a puppet of an old lady and letting me stuff the different things she ate into her mouth. The colorful illustrations along with the cut holes make the story just as memorable as with the puppet.

Simms Taback’s artistic abilities are very apparent in this book and are very similar to other books that he has illustrated such as This is the Little House that Jack Built and Joseph had a Little Overcoat. The book does not only tell the story, but lots of other humorous or informational details are sprinkled throughout the book. For example, the flies on the back cover of the book are all accurately draw and identified and there are humorous newspaper headlines such as “Lady Wolfs Down Dog” throughout the book.

One thing new that I learned (from our textbook) about this book is that it because of the cut outs; it can be described as a toy, engineered, or mechanical book.