Humpty Dumpty Climbs Again

by Dave Horowitz, Dave Horowitz (Illustrator)

Overview

Humpty Dumpty is humiliated. All the King's Horses and All the King's Men make fun of him and his embarrassing fall every chance they get. So Humpty Dumpty holes up in his home, determined to never climb another wall. Until a friend needs his help. In this silly play on traditional nursery rhymes Humpty is given the chance to show that the best thing to do after you fall off the horse (or wall, in this case) is to get right back on.

"Illustrated with big, clear, line-and-watercolor cartoons, Horowitz's simple rhyming text is both a parody of nursery rhymes and a fun story. Children will enjoy the puns and the play with the Mother Goose verses that they know." - Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525516132
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	10/16/2008
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Dave Horowitz has written and illustrated a number of books for young readers, including  Beware of Tigers, The Ugly Pumpkin and Soon, Baboon, Soon. He lives in Rosendale, New York.

Learn more about Dave Horowitz at horowitzdave.com.

Editorial Reviews

Horowitz's simple rhyming text is both a parody of nursery rhymes and a fun story. Children will enjoy the puns and play with the Mother Goose verses that they know.

Booklist

Gr 1-2

In this skewed extension of the nursery rhyme, Humpty is a climbing enthusiast who gives up his hobby after a "great fall." His doctor admonishes him to be more careful: "for Pete's sake, you're an egg!" Depressed, Humpty sits around the house in his underwear until he unexpectedly finds himself in a position to rescue one of the king's horses from a mountain ledge. Successful and invigorated, he resumes his favorite activity, but with less risk-a postscript informs readers that he now uses safety equipment. Horowitz combines short sentences with Mother Goose rhyme patterns and includes not only characters from Humpty's story, but also others that children should know well: the Dish and the Spoon, the little laughing dog, Miss Muffett's spider. The cartoon art is funny but uneven-while Humpty's expressions nicely evoke the poor egg's mood, the backgrounds look a little slapdash. The result is a lightweight but charming addition to the popular subgenre of "fractured" nursery stories and fairy tales.-Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick's Catholic School, Charlotte, NC

School Library Journal

Horowitz's twist on the familiar nursery rhyme falls a little like Humpty Dumpty himself—flat. When the King's Horses and Men fail to put Humpty Dumpty back together, they call the doctor, who succeeds and tells the egg to be more careful. Thereupon he retreats to his living room, where he sits around in his underwear watching television and eating chips. A visit from the Dish doesn't stir him from his chair…but a Spider does. At the Little Dog's laughter (he's in his underwear after all), Humpty heads for the anonymity of the hills. But when he discovers a horse stuck up on the wall, he cannot stand idly by. He grabs safety equipment (which he never again climbs without) and heads to the rescue. Horowitz's artwork keeps the details minimal in order to maximize the humor, which rests mainly on speech bubbles, facial expressions and tighty-whiteys. What with the fairly adult treatment of Humpty's funk, this will not be a standout on the fractured nursery-rhyme shelf, but it might garner some laughs for the underwear. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews