In this aptly illustrated version of a tale that folklorist/storyteller extraordinaire MacDonald has told for years, and even recorded, the title character is cast as a small woman with half-glasses, a tendency toward wide, exuberant gestures and—except for huge woolly red hair, a certain resemblance to the author. Having come upon a gold coin, Teeny Weeny Bop dances off, “To market, to market! To buy a fat PIG!” for a pet. When the pig ruins her garden, she trades it for a cat, which proceeds to wreck her living room, and so on down, until even a slug proves troublesome, and she ends up with neither coin nor companion. But then she finds a silver coin. . . . Crafted from folkloric elements and presented in a mix of bumptious prose and verse, this original story lends itself equally well to reading or telling; either way, young audiences will clamor for more despite the closing, “No more, no more Teeny Weeny Bop! / Your silly story has got to . . . STOP!” (source note) (Picture book. 5-9)
