And
The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon
By Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel
illustrated by Janet Stevens
Review
by: Lori
Plach
It is very easy to see why this book was a Children's
Book- of- the- Month Club selection. The story begins just as the nursery rhyme does with the
dish running away with the spoon. It's what follows next that is a comical adventure. The cat and the cow seek their friends before the
rhyme gets read again. The dog is very grumpy and wants to just change the rhyme. The comments that the dog makes are very funny and uses many
common cliches'.
Using a map showing the different location of the houses of other
characters from well-known children's stories and nursery rhymes, they
set out to find their friends. They decide not to visit the three bears
since they don't like company. They come to a fork in the road who
comments he has come across some lost sheep, four and twenty blackbirds and the dish. He claims that the spoon looks kind of familiar since they
were from the same place setting as him. They visit Little Boy Blue who of course, is sleeping. The haystack makes the dog sneeze since he
has hay fever. They go to Little Miss Muffet's and talk to the spider who doesn't know where she is because she ran away. The next place they go is
to the house of the big, bad wolf, who would love to have them for dinner. Before any thing bad happens to the threesome, the cat plays her
fiddle and the wolf falls asleep.
In the end, they do find the dish which is broken into pieces and they
have to find a solution to their problem. They go to Handyman Jack who
fixes things and they return home. However, they have to get there
quickly before the rhyme gets read again, so the cat and the dog hop
aboard the jumping cow.
The dish and the spoon have learned two very important lessons 1) that if
you go too far away you can get lost and 2) what friendship is all about.
This book could easily become a family favorite with its funny play on
words, amusing illustrations and adventurous storyline.
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