Pistes d'exploration

Create a Venn diagram comparing this story with There was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Shell. Which ending do you prefer? Come up with some alternative endings. 

Write a story from the perspective of one of the ingested characters. Start from when it is first eaten and include the moment it is spewed out. Explain what happens after that.

Brainstorm a list of other Halloween objects, animals and supernatural beings that the old lady could have swallowed. Categorize them under the above headings. 

Share prior knowledge of Halloween creatures. 

Choral read or sing the text to the traditional tune. 

Draw an old lady on a small paper bag. Retell the story with a friend as you insert pictures of the various creatures into the bag.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell!, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Mouse's First Halloween

Mots-clés

Picture book , Songs , cumulative stories , ghosts , Halloween , recurrent patterns , stories in rhyme

Commentaire descriptif

There was an old lady who swallowed a bat (“imagine that”) and an owl (“My, oh, my, she started to howl”) and a good number of other Halloween-themed creatures. Based on the classic “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” this version includes a ghost, a goblin, some bones and even a wizard on the menu, all comically depicted in watercolour and ink. Children will enjoy the wildly expressive faces of the horrified and horrifying characters, including that of the old lady who remorselessly shovels in her hapless victims, even those who make her fat or groan, or make her “so dizzy she wanted to spin.” Her satisfied “Burp!” following the explosive expulsion of all the creatures is sure to cause more than a few giggles. A good choice for read-aloud and for young children who want to read by themselves, this book is an effective confidence booster because of its restricted vocabulary and repetitive structure. Budding songwriters may be inspired to invent their own versions of the song with other holiday themes, following the same pattern of rhyme and repetition.