And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon

by Janet Stevens (Author)

And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
When Dish and Spoon run away, their nursery rhyme friends Cat, Cow, and Dog set out to rescue them in time for the next evening's reading of their rhyme. Full-color illustrations.
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Publishers Weekly

Starred Review
The creators of Cook-a-Doodle-Doo! here serve up a concoction of visual treats and broad jokes as Cow, Cat and Dog search for their missing colleagues, Dish and Spoon. After previewing a page with the famous rhyme from Mother Goose, the authors showcase an alarmed feline rousing a reluctant Dog and Cow: "EVERYBODY UP! They didn't come back!" The cow, exhausted from his jumping, suggests that they simply eliminate the lost duo from the rhyme altogether: "We could end it, and the cow took a nap until noon.' " Puns fly freely as the trio begin their search and come to a Hawaiian shirt-sporting fork (in the road), who says that he had spotted the missing characters; the utensil offers to "take a stab at" drawing them a map to aid the quest. Map in hand, the friends encounter an array of nursery-rhyme characters, including Spider, who regrets having frightened away Little Miss Muffet; and Wolf, dressed in a festive apron and bunny slippers, who attempts to lure Dog into a vat of boiling water. Additional stanzas to the original rhyme, which run along the sides of white-framed vignettes, help chronicle the ultimately successful hunt. Droll flourishes fill this Caldecott Honor artist's animated watercolor and colored-pencil pictures, enhanced by photographic and digital elements. Kids will gobble this up. Ages 5-8. (May) Copyright 2001 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-A familiar Mother Goose rhyme is transformed into a rollicking picaresque adventure for school-aged children. The tongue-in-cheek humor requires a more mature reader to appreciate the wordplay and wry sarcasm of what amounts to a fractured fairy tale. This childhood standard begins to go haywire when the dish runs away with the spoon and the two fail to return. The cat, the cow, and the dog realize that they must set off in pursuit of their literary companions or their rhyme will be unavailable for reading in the evening to come. Their characters become quickly evident. The fiddling cat is a Type A organizer, the cow tends toward indolence, and the little dog is a cynical curmudgeon. When they have managed their interpersonal dynamics well enough to form a rescue party, they first encounter a literal four-pronged "fork in the road" that has indeed seen the errant place setting and agrees to "take a stab" at drawing a map of the folkloric kingdom. Little Boy Blue, Miss Muffet's spider, the Big Bad Wolf, and Jack and the beanstalk all make appearances during the quest. The disappearance is at last resolved happily, but not without a dash of danger and travail. Stevens's distinctive illustrations lend a great deal of personality and vitality to this droll expanded retelling. A familiarity with Mother Goose will greatly enhance readers' appreciation of this story but, even with that, some of the puns and double entendres may go over youngsters' heads. Still, those sophisticated enough to get it will love it.-Rosalyn Pierini, San Luis Obispo City-County Library, CA Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780544668331
Lexile Measure
500
Guided Reading Level
L
Publisher
Clarion Books
Publication date
June 14, 2016
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV019000 - Juvenile Fiction | Humorous Stories
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
Library of Congress categories
Characters in literature
Nursery rhymes
California Young Reader Medal
Winner 2004 - 2004
Bluebonnet Awards
Nominee 2003 - 2003
Georgia Children's Book Award
Nominee 2004 - 2004
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award
Nominee 2004 - 2004
Red Clover Award
Nominee 2003 - 2003
Young Hoosier Book Award
Nominee 2004 - 2004
Black-Eyed Susan Award
Nominee 2002 - 2003
South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award
Nominee 2005 - 2006
Golden Sower Award
Nominee 2004 - 2004
Irma S. & James H. Black Award
Honor Book 2002 - 2002

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