I don't know why I picked this up at the thrift shop, but I've got to call my mother to thank her for not traumatizing my childhood by reading me this particular nursery rhyme. The illustrations are especially horrifying.

A little old granny smirks evilly as she stalks and consumes increasingly larger creatures until she dies, presumably of intestinal rupture. But based on her deathbed expression, I suspect she eventually rises to join the ranks of the undead. ( )

This sill book was one of my favorites when I was a young girl. The more and more animals the old lady ate, the harder I laughed. I especially liked this book because while my mother read, I would get to pull string and paper cut-outs and make the illustrations come to life. This kept me interested and made me feel important. I love how each page not only explains why she ate said animals, but it repeats the long list of previous eaten animals so we remember all the things rumbling around in her tummy. Still a classic to me! ( )

this is a board book of the classic song, " i know and old lady who swallowed a fly". it has a cute rythym to it. it tells about a lady who at first swallows a fly, but then continues to swallow animals after it to catch the previous animal. eventually she swallows a horse to catch to a cow and dies...
the pictures are colored pencil, and in this paticular version very pretty.

i read this book almost nightly to my daughter, and i never realized it was a fantasy. she tells me, "Old Lady?" when she gives me the book to read. we like it because the spider wriggles and jiggles inducing tickles. we like it very much because of the quality time spent reading it, and singing along.

the book is meant for young children, and could be used during music time at a preschool or daycare. older children could use it when talking about animals. ( )