Chick Lit: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick by Lucille Colandro

THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A CHICK!

I DON'T KNOW WHY SHE SWALLOWED A CHICK.

BUT SHE DIDN'T GET SICK!

But, of course, if you've encountered Lucille Colandro's old lady before, you know she's not heading for digestive distress at all. Not this gal. Her consumption always ends in gustatory glory, and in her latest alimentary adventure, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick, this old lady has an appetite for Easter excitement.

In short order, so to speak, this old lady goes on to gobble an egg, some straw, candy, a basket, a bow ... and, well, you can see where this one is going. As she skips down the trail on a day that is sunny, there's a strategic stumble, and OOOPS! out pops the entire Easter basket, chick, egg, straw, candy, with perky bow somehow tied jauntily atop the handle!

And...surprise, surprise, surprise...

GUESS WHO SHE MEETS?

THE EASTER BUNNY!

With Jared Lee's familiar illustrations, the author's newest addition to her seasonal stories of the old lady who always gets it together for a holiday, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick (Scholastic, 2010), with its familiar folksong rhythm, rhyming triplets and cumulative story line, is a fine addition to the Colandro catalog. Kids who already know the There Was an Old Lady 3 Pack: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! / There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! / There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell! There Was an Old Lady 3 Pack: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! / There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! / There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell! stories will immediately chime in on the building refrain in a rhyming Easter story just made to be read aloud. And, after all, for Easter, it's more than appropriate to ham it up!