I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel

K-Gr 3—This version of the familiar cumulative song is given a humorous twist: "I know an old lady who swallowed a dreidel, a Chanukah dreidel she thought was a bagel…Perhaps it's fatal." The song progresses through various traditional foods and symbols, such as oil, latkes, brisket, gelt, and candles, all leading to a large non-fatal "BURP!" Following the original rhyming scheme calls for some verbal acrobatics, which the author handles well, with the exception of substituting "some sauce" for applesauce. Slonim makes an intriguing decision to base the cartoon pictures on famous works of art. "I wanted the art parodies to help the book transcend Chanukah, speaking to the universal human experience of family gatherings and celebrations." So, the old lady is depicted as a winking Mona Lisa, while her family appears in American Gothic and a menorah lights up Van Gogh's The Starry Night. This artistic "what-is-it" adds another layer to the book that is generally appealing and occasionally irksome (the old lady as the young woman in Wyeth's Christina's World.) Still, given the over-the-top silliness of the song, adding a visual game to it doesn't seem excessive and might just spur young readers to locate the original works. A unique addition that could generate a few parodies of its own. Includes an artist's note.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library