To Market, To Market

Rating:
Summary: My kids love this one!
Review: I just loved this book - both the story and illustrations are so much fun. My girls and I laughed through it - the funniest part was that it is almost like our house. My husband brings home a different animal every week and they are always getting into everything. I also liked that the woman bought brown rice and lots of healthy food - nice to see in children's books.

Rating:
Summary: You will either love it or hate it!
Review: I love this book, and would give it five stars. My husband hates it,and would give it one. He calls it "That Stupid Book" because it has a section devoted entirely to vegetables (the woman ends up sparing the animals and makes them all vegi soup) and the pictures are so unusual. The illustrations are a mix of black and white photographs and amazing, colorful illustrations. I love the illustrations, they are captivating. Even the vegetables.

The true judge is my daughter. It is on her "greatest hits" list. She loves it. So, whenever we read "That Stupid Book", Mommy reads it. We leave Goodnight Moon for Daddy.

Rating:
Summary: You will either love it or hate it!
Review: I love this book, and would give it five stars. My husband hates it,and would give it one. He calls it "That Stupid Book" because it has a section devoted entirely to vegetables (the woman ends up sparing the animals and makes them all vegi soup) and the pictures are so unusual. The illustrations are a mix of black and white photographs and amazing, colorful illustrations. I love the illustrations, they are captivating. Even the vegetables.

The true judge is my daughter. It is on her "greatest hits" list. She loves it. So, whenever we read "That Stupid Book", Mommy reads it. We leave Goodnight Moon for Daddy.

Rating:
Summary: Great rhythmic fun for little tiny kids
Review: Our daughter was given this book for her first birthday, and she loved it from the start. Author Anne Miranda subverts the typical "To Market, To Market" rhyme with her own funnybone squarely at the fore of her thinking. Among other things, our huffy old lady goes "To market, to market" to cows, lambs, fish, and more, only to discover that they're making a wreck of her home. The pig is lolling on the counter, the hen has nested in the cutlery drawer, and the lamb is resting comfortably in the dishwasher.

What to do?!?? Although the lady verges on panic, she gets it together, assembles the ingredients for a lovely (vegetarian) meal, and everyone is seated at the end to enjoy the steaming vegetable soup she's made.

Miranda's humorous text is greatly aided by the illustrations of the talented Janet Stevens. Stevens combines actual black-and-white photographs with acrylic, pastel, and colored pencil illustrations. The result is a series of pictures with an up-to-the-minute feeling and a great deal of interest. Lots of fun for very young kids--and, luckily, for their parents as well.

Rating:
Summary: The best "non-page-turner"
Review: This fun book has a great rhythm you will want to keep turning the pages and keep up with the beat, but if you read this to your children you won't get to turn the pages at your desired pace because they will love the pictures. The illustrations are great. Filled with animals and each one has a personality, as does the main character (she becomes more and more frustrated as the story moves along and her home is filled with animals who take over her house). There are so many cute details in the illustrations you children will find more things to discover with many repetitions of the book. You will read this book many times if you own it. Sometimes with your children and maybe even on your own without them there to distract you!

Rating:
Summary: Funny Offbeat Story
Review: This story adapts a traditional children's song by pulling it into our contemporary world. Most of us don't go to the market anymore to buy a whole pig or cow, and the illustrator highlights this gap in time by showing what happens when one woman does bring all these animals home. The result is both thoughtful and silly: I love a children's book that doesn't take itself too seriously!

As you can imagine, the animals run loose and create havoc in the kitchen while the overwhelmed woman goes back to the market for more things. Finally in desperation, she buys a bunch of vegetables and makes them all soup!

It's an artsy little story that you can read over and over again without getting bored. The illustrations are witty and creative throughout. I appreciate inventive touches in this book, like the black and white background juxtaposed against the color foreground. Also, I like the way the market background is reminiscient of an earlier time period, perhaps the 50's or 60's?

Rating:
Summary: Funny Offbeat Story
Review: This story adapts a traditional children's song by pulling it into our contemporary world. Most of us don't go to the market anymore to buy a whole pig or cow, and the illustrator highlights this gap in time by showing what happens when one woman does bring all these animals home. The result is both thoughtful and silly: I love a children's book that doesn't take itself too seriously!

As you can imagine, the animals run loose and create havoc in the kitchen while the overwhelmed woman goes back to the market for more things. Finally in desperation, she buys a bunch of vegetables and makes them all soup!

It's an artsy little story that you can read over and over again without getting bored. The illustrations are witty and creative throughout. I appreciate inventive touches in this book, like the black and white background juxtaposed against the color foreground. Also, I like the way the market background is reminiscient of an earlier time period, perhaps the 50's or 60's?

Rating:
Summary: My kids can't stop laughing with this book.
Review: Wonderful, witty illustrations mske this book a laugh riot at our house, where it's been a treat read for months. A rare treat, to hear children (not to mention the adults) laughing uncontrollably at the lamb in the dishwasher rack or the cow staring at you from a corner of the page.