The Cow Tripped Over the Moon: A Nursery Rhyme Emergency

by Jeanne Willis, Joel Stewart (Illustrator)

Overview

Who is that bovine that just fell from a great height? What if the wind rocks the cradle a little too hard? Help, it’s a nursery rhyme emergency!

Here comes the ambulance! It’s on its way.
Who’s had an accident in Storyland today?

Jumping over the moon is fine as long as you don’t trip—and end up needing cow-size bandages. And having a blackbird peck off your nose can leave a person very sore indeed. Led along by bright, humorous illustrations and an energetic rhyming text, little readers will have fun guessing who the next Storyland victim might be, following hints like, “Who could be covered in egg?” and “Who went up and tumbled down?” Look out, here comes the ambulance!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763674021
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/12/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,066,889
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jeanne Willis has written many books for children, including Mommy, Do You Love Me? and Never Too Little to Love, both illustrated by Jan Fearnley. Jeanne Willis lives in London.

Joel Stewart is the illustrator of many acclaimed children’s books, including Red Ted and the Lost Things by Michael Rosen and Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis. He lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

Children just graduating from nursery rhymes will find this a hoot.
—Kirkus Reviews

This book could make a nice complement to a nursery rhyme–themed storytime.
—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
PreS-K—Willis takes six traditional rhymes and gives them a new twist by successfully rescuing each character through the arrival of the nursery-rhyme ambulance. "Here comes the ambulance! It's on its way./Who's had an accident in Storyland today?/Driver, put your foot down. Don't waste time./This is an Emergency Nursery Rhyme." It rescues a cow that has tripped over the moon, Rock-a-bye Baby in a compost heap, and even manages to put the shattered Humpty Dumpty together again using jam and bread. Stewart's mixed-media cartoon illustrations are done in a cheerful palette and have a child-friendly quirkiness. Children would need to be familiar with the original rhymes to appreciate the parodies, but hopefully they would be. VERDICT While not an essential purchase, this book could make a nice complement to a nursery rhyme-themed storytime.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

School Library Journal

2015-03-03
Hey-diddle-diddle! Nursery-rhyme EMTs rescue stranded characters from "Mother Goose." In verse! All the animals stop to watch the ambulance zoom by. "Who's had an accident in Storyland today?" they wonder. Turns out it's the farmer's cow, who fell from a great height. A trio of paramedics patches her up, and she responds with a hearty "Moo!" The next day is even busier. They rescue Rock-a-Bye Baby, who fell from a bough. They bandage the nose of a poor washer maid who was bitten by a blackbird, a brother of the four and 20 that were baked into that pie. They race to the notorious wall to tend to the big egg Humpty Dumpty after his fall. The King's Horses and Men arrive while the ambulance crew is using jam and bread to cover Humpty's wounds. Next up is Little Boy Blue, whom they find beneath a haystack. He's none the worse for wear, but his mangled horn needs emergency repair, with hammers and "trumpet tape." Willis' verse is bouncy without being overworked, and she puns with the best of them. Stewart's illustrations are appropriately bright and busy, offering plenty of side business for cognoscenti. The EMTs are human, two Caucasian and one black, and two of them are comfortably well-padded. Children just graduating from nursery rhymes will find this a hoot. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews