There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly

by Rashin Kheiriyeh (Illustrator)

Overview

A fresh and feisty take on a beloved classic!

We all remember the old lady who swallowed a fly, a spider, a cat, a dog, a cow, and a horse. Now we know how she did it! Rashin’s colorful and comedic illustrations take you from midgulp to midbelly as the animals are swallowed whole. Her devoted cat tries to help: “Stop!” “Don’t eat it.” “Try this!” But when the old lady grabs the cat it’s every beast for itself. “Eat the dog!” And when the old lady cheers: “Catch it!”— the critters leap into action to catch the one that was swallowed before.

A spirited and funny read-aloud.
School Library Journal

The star of this show is the rainbow-scarved black kitty with his outsize personality that jumps off every page.
BookDragon

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735841932
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Rashin Kheiriyeh is a multi-award-winning author-illustrator, animator, and painter who has more than ninety children’s books to her credit. Her books have been published in at least twelve countries and she was nominated for the 2023 & 2024 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to children's literature. She is also the recipient of a Sendak Fellowship Award, a 2009 New Horizon Award (Bologna Ragazzi), and is a six-time winner of the Bologna Book Fair Illustration competition. Rashin Kheiriyeh is the character artist of the most popular animation series on national television in Iran called “Shekarestan” (“Sugarland”). She now lives in Washington, DC.

Editorial Reviews

"What’s new here is, of course, the fabulously hilarious colorful facelift. Sure, the eponymous old lady is still really old (although her skin care regimen is definitely working for her!), but the real star of this show is her rainbow-scarved black kitty with his outsize personality that jumps off every page...

Kitty suggests antacid instead of adding another wriggler, but the old lady is too busy yelling “Catch it!” to the growing menagerie in her expanding tummy. With barely a pause between gulps, the old lady definitely has some stored-up superhuman energy – she’s determined to chase down that dog, cow, horse! But no worries – a happy (enough) ending awaits all. Most especially, we readers, who will surely be “Yay!”-ing, “Hee!”-ing, “Neigh!”-ing right along."

BookDragon

"What’s new here is, of course, the fabulously hilarious colorful facelift...[Rashin] takes something familiar and injects new life."-Smithsonian BookDragon Review

From the Publisher

10/01/2014
K-GR 2—Colorful, quirky illustrations combined with hilarious speech bubbles will make this new version of the traditional story/song appealing to children. The drawings show pandemonium outside and inside the old woman's stomach, and she looks positively eager to eat ever-larger animals in her quest to capture the fly buzzing in her stomach. When the cat, who has shouted out helpful encouragement and admonishments to the old woman at several stages, finds itself being swallowed, it shouts out "Eat the dog!" and readers can't help but laugh when comparing the expressions on the woman's face (calm, matter of fact), the cat's face (sheer terror), and the dog's face (complete bewilderment). This sort of over-the-top dark humor pervades the entire story. Like the traditional version, the old woman dies after she eats the horse, but all the animals in her stomach shout out, "No!" when they see what she is attempting. Midway through her final meal, her stomach explodes (only suggested at in the drawing), and the final pages show the animals marching off in high spirits while the old lady returns as a smiling angel. A spirited and funny read-aloud.—Sally James, South Hillsborough Elementary School, Hillsborough, CA

School Library Journal