There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Taback, Simms. There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. New York: The Penguin Group, 1997. ISBN 0-670-86939-2

2. PLOT SUMMARY

The story begins with a crazed looking, colorfully dressed old lady walking outside. Without knowing if it is on purpose or an accident, the old lady swallowed a fly. A bird, cow, cat, and dog comment on the absurdity of someone swallowing a fly and suspects that she may die from eating a fly. Next, the old lady swallowed a spider to catch the fly. The old lady was in much better spirits after eating a bird to catch the spider.  The cow and the dog suspect that she could die from such a weird meal. We didn't know it was possible, but the old lady looked even crazier after eating an entire cat to catch the bird. The old lady swallowed a dog to catch the cat and swallowed a cow to catch the dog. Almost too big for the page, the old lady swallows a large cow. After swallowing a horse, the old lady dies. The moral of the story is: "Never swallow a horse."

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The main character of the book is a brightly dressed old lady. She is costumed in a large brimmed orange hat adorned with a yellow sunflower, a soft blue shawl, a hand bag, and an umbrella. Her eyes are wild to show her silliness. There are animal characters, not speaking in the initial rhyme, stretched throughout the book that Taback voices around the edge of the pages. These new rhymes add and enhance the classic to make this book a unique experience for older readers who may take more time to gaze longer on each page.
The story is simply an old lady who keeps swallowing animals from ascending size order. As her size expands to accommodate the animals, so does the cut-out that allows the reader to "see" into her stomach. The stomach cut out gets larger as the old lady swallows more animals. The rhyme continues to comment that "perhaps she'll die" until the joke ends with her actual death.
There is a deeper moral to not assume that one drastic action will remedy the consequences of a previous action. To the young children who may not understand this, there is the great moral that is presented in the end: "Never swallow a horse."
The style of illustrations in the book are childlike and fun. The pages are very detailed and have hidden fun images and messages for those who are taking the time to look. There is a newspaper clipping from The Times that has the headline of "Old Lady Swallows a Fly." There is a detailed recipe card for "Spider Soup" that calls for different bugs to be "sautéed with bug juice." One of my favorite pages of illustration is the vast tree of different birds with their names underneath. Another illustrations has a humorous New York Post paper with these amusing headlines: "CAT ATTACKED: CULPRIT IDENTIFIED (An old lady is pictured.); CAT IN THE HAT LOSES HAT; CAT HAS 8 LIVES LEFT!" There is even a funny illustrated appearance by the author.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

1998 Caldecott Honor

From Publisher Weekly: "Children of all ages will joyfully swallow this book whole. All ages."

From Common Sense Media: "It's wildly silly, and readers have an open invitation to rhyme along. The artwork, for all its goofiness, is mesmerizing."

From The Book Bag UK: "The only lesson Simms Taback and his book has is about how good it is to laugh and clown around. And that's the best lesson there is."

5. CONNECTIONS

Other Caldecott Medal/ Honor 1998 Winners:

Rapunzel, retold and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky IBN:978052545607
The Gardener, illustrated by David Small, text by Sarah Stewart IBN: 97803012367497
Harlem, illustrated by Christopher Myers, text by Walter Dean Myers IBN: 970590543407

Other Books by Simms Taback:

Postcards from Camp ISB: 97803992393731
Joseph had a Little Overcoat ISB: 970670878553
Safari Animals  ISB: 97819347060190
This is the House that Jack Built ISB: 9780142402009
Where are my Friends? ISB: 9780811847865
City Animals ISB: 9781934706527
I Miss You Every Day ISB: 978670061921

Lesson Plans: 

The National Asociation of the deaf has a short lesson plan for k-3rd grade ages. Find it here: There was an Old Lady Lesson

Make Learning Fun has a large website dedicated to young children's education. There are over five lessons offered for this book. I appreciate that they offer math as a teaching option. It is alway important to have cross curriculum material. Find it here: Make Learning Fun

I love using scholastic materials in my classroom. They have very detailed lesson plans and great worksheets that allow for critical thinking. This lesson can be modified for kids of all ages from kindergarten to 8th grade. Find it here: Scholastic Lesson