THE COMIC ADVENTURES OF OLD MOTHER HUBBARD AND HER DOG

by Tomie de Paola ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1981

It's not particularly comical, or sportive, or frolicsome; and because the paired couplets are on facing pages--""She went to the baker's/ To buy him some bread"" opposite ""But when she came back/ The poor dog was dead""--there's no suspense, no element of surprise. But it's mildly amusing to see, in an instant, Old Mother Hubbard's astonishment; the full-color pictures, with their broadly gesticulating figures, have a certain mincing, masque-like gaiety (suggestive of a stage performance); and set into the decorative frame on each page are little vignettes from Mother Goose that may be considered an added attraction. (Some, of course, might consider them an unnecessary distraction.) So: less spirited and downright funny than the Paul Galdone version, less appealing or imaginative than Evaline Ness' rendering, but O.K. in a pretty, silly way.

Pub Date: March 1, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981

Categories: CHILDREN'S