I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

by Glen Rounds

Book Overview

A cumulative folk song in which the solution proves worse than the predicament when an old lady swallows a fly. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823408140
• ISBN13: 9780823408146
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 9.2" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

One Woman's Bad Diet Becomes A Favorite Song

The great mystery of one woman's dietary adventure has intrigued children for generations. Although she has avoided the stronger points of both the South Beach and the Atkins diets, she did bring in a diverse meal plan with lots of protein with minimal carbs. The woman described is not a pleasant, friendly woman, but one who is terribly overweight, and who apparently eats her pets as well as bugs. Look out Fido! Look out Fluffy! It is the tale oft-told, and the rhymes will please the young one's ears. It is easy to remember, and so much fun that you may find yourself humming the tune. Like the classic folk story, "Stone Soup," the song builds with each retelling. First, she eats a fly, then a spider, then a bird. You get the idea. While her plan was not to eat any of these things, she does. While the pictures are fun, it is the song we all love, and the one you and your family can sing on vacations, school busses. It works in rounds, or in groups. The children are sure to giggle through it, since funny vocal inflections beg to be employed. I fully recommend "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." But, I must admit, I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Your guess what will happen to her is as good as mine. Anthony Trendl editor, HungarianBookstore.com

For Fun, not for a life Lesson (sheesh!)

Precious, funny, and silly. I loved this one when I was little... it is classic. I can still sing it today and laugh. Ok sure she dies, but that is the problem today... people get too uptight when it comes to kids, they are too protected. To protect them from morbidity (as well as the numerous other things kids are OVER protected from today) makes a child who will not function well as they get older. This is not a lesson on death, just a fun & silly song. To make it more then that is limiting yourself & children. Please folks relax... Have fun, laugh & live a little!

Perhaps perhaps perhaps

Who knew the text of "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" belonged to the Hoosier Folklore Society? Not I said the .... you know. This is the classic song in which, "the solution proves worse than the predicament". In other words, the cure is worse than the disease. Here we have the supposed old lady (though I have my doubts considering her strong physique and lovely red hair) who has swallowed a fly. And whatta fly it is! This isn't your usual tiny crawling insect. On every other page we view a whopping magnificently HUGE fly, roughly the size of the old lady's head. Most of the creatures the old lady swallows to catch the previous animal are similarly horrific in some way. If your kids weren't afraid of spiders before this book, they will be now. And whatta hairy red-eyed sharp toothed bony kneed spider it is! This is followed next by the scariest chicken you ever did see (again red-eyed) and then a pupil-less (but nonetheless red-eyed) cat that stares off into space. You get the idea. The text is a little different from the versions of the song I remember from my own innocent youth. Instead of vaguely supposing, "perhaps she'll die" at the end of every line, this book comes to the absolute conclusion that "I guess she'll die". Seems logical. And sure enough the last page displays a blank tombstone with a single blue bottle containing three woebegotten red flowers sitting on the grass. Read this book well (or sing it) and the kids'll come screaming for more. But boy is that one creepy fly! If nothing else, this book will teach the kiddies the dangers of fly knoshing. Oog.

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly

I thought this was a very good story. I collect children's books and it was highly recommended to me. This is a must to have in your library of children's books.