The Mutton Maker! Mary Had A Little Lab by Sue Fliess

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAB.
SHE TESTED AND CREATED.
WHILE OTHER KIDS WERE AT THE PARK,
SHE BUILT AND CALCULATED.

Mary loves her little lab, but she sometimes gets lonely there.

Perhaps having a pet would help. But Mary doesn't go to the pet store. She's a scientist!

She sneaks a snip of a sheep's fleece, and slips back to her lab to analyze the DNA and clone herself a lamb. She creates the perfect sheep-making machine, which she christens "The Sheepinator," and her first run produces a lovely little lamb who snuggles and cuddles and follows her everywhere. And, of course, it had to happen; Mary didn't say nay, so....

SHE FOLLOWED HER TO SCHOOL ONE DAY.

The lamb is a big hit at school. Mary finds herself the most popular kid in the class, and all her new friends clamber for a lamb of their own. Proudly, Mary leads them to demonstrate just what her science can create:

SHE LED THEM TO HER LITTLE LAB.
"BEHOLD THE SHEEPINATOR!
I SIMPLY PRESS THIS BUTTON HERE...
THE WOOLLY DUPLICATOR!"

The children are delighted as their sheep roll forth from the Sheepinator, but then there's a malfunction in Mary's mutton maker! The Sheepinator won't quit! In fact, it creates quite a glut of sheep! What shall Mary and her schoolmates do with all these shaggy pets with their fleecy pelts?

There are plenty of warm woolen sweaters in everyone's future, in Sue Fliess's funny fractured nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lab (Albert Whitman, 2018). Author Fliess perfectly captures the cadence of the original rhyme scheme of "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and also borrows the age-old device of The Sorcerer's Apprentice in which the duplications just won't quit coming, while slyly putting in a plug for girls in science. Fliess's parody also succeeds with`the help of artist Petros Bouloubasis's soft and comical illustrations. "A rhyming picture book that would make even Dr. Seuss jealous...," says Shelf Awareness for Readers' reviewer.