ANOTHER HAPPY TALE

by Dorothy Butler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1991

Like A Happy Tale (1990), another comical tall tale in the alternating ""fortunately/unfortunately"" pattern--though this has more serious undertones: Mabel, shown gorging on pastries, leaves the baby to Ned, who ""was not very good at looking after babies either."" Left to her own devices, the baby enjoys life with the pigs until ""Unhappily, one day Ned rounded up ...baby and all, and took them to market to be sold."" ""Happily,"" the purchasers notice that she's a baby and treat her accordingly, despite her attempts to rejoin the pigs; after much entertaining slapstick, Mabel and Ned take her home, vowing to be better parents: they even join the library and are seen with the author's classic Babies Need Books, as well as the all-important Mother Goose. Purposive but disarmingly good-humored; Hurford's broad double spreads, from the vantage point of a small child, are crisp, clear, and amusingly in the spirit of the text. Parents should enjoy the satire and absorb the lesson without pain, while the three-year-olds will love the humorous exaggeration.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1991

Categories: CHILDREN'S