A funny twist on the classic rhyme
What happens after a shopper goes "to market, to market, to buy a fat pig"? Back home the pig promptly escapes, and soon the pig's in the kitchen, the lamb's on the bed, the cow's on the couch—and the rest of the animals are wreaking havoc throughout the house!
"The skillfully wielded visual anarchy explodes off the page. This is one market trip children will wish to take again and again." —Publishers Weekly
September 3, 2001
"In this clever riff on the old nursery rhyme, a plump matron makes a series of increasingly calamitous purchases of animals at the supermarket. This is one market trip children will wish to take again and again," PW
said. Ages 5-8.
September 1, 1997
In this clever riff on the old nursery rhyme, "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig," a plump matron makes a series of increasingly calamitous purchases of animals at the supermarket. Hungry and cranky after the raucous menagerie turns her house topsy-turvy, the lady (who is dressed in a deliciously kitschy ensemble) wisely decides to make vegetable soup instead. Stevens (Tops & Bottoms) creates collages from mundane-looking b&w photographs of settings and objects by superimposing on them dynamic mixed media portraits of the heroine and her animal retinue. The skillfully wielded visual anarchy explodes off the page. As the catalyst and brunt of the mess, the would-be chef gets a full comic workout (in one illustration, the animals push her to the market as she slumps, dazed and utterly frazzled, in a grocery cart), but the audience also will sense the illustrator's genuine affection for her heroine's indomitable spirit. Miranda's (Night Songs) rhyming text (set in playful typography, with red boldface for emphasis) does an unobtrusive job of pushing the boundaries of the original rhymes, with verses like these: "To market, to market, for one stubborn goat. The duck flew the coop and the goat ate my coat!" But some may find the writer's repeated use of "Uh-oh!" to mark each new calamity cloying (perhaps because it seems an unlikely interjection from such a distinctive-looking heroine). Still, this is one market trip children will wish to take again and again. Ages 4-8.
January 1, 1998
PreS-Gr 3-What begins with the traditional serene nursery rhyme turns into a slapstick excursion filled with mishap and mayhem. A "fat pig" is not enough for this ambitious shopper. The elderly woman makes return trips to the market for a hen, trout, lamb, cow, duck, and goat. While she is acquiring more, her earlier purchases are wreaking havoc. Patterned, staccato verses tell the zany tale, but it is Stevens's wonderfully wild illustrations that bring it to life. The conventional home's interior is pictured in flat gray charcoal tones. The woman and her animals are colorful, oversized figures that burst off the pages. The collage technique allows for the contrasting colors and styles that magnify the uncontained boisterous fun of this very imaginative book. Visual format, repetition, and rhyme make this title an ideal choice for sharing aloud. It could also be used as a springboard for writing projects as children start with a familiar rhyme and make it their own. All-in-all, a delightful, albeit raucous, romp.-Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
November 1, 1997
Ages 5^-7. Adding her own creative stamp to a verse that children will instantly recognize, "To market, to market, / to buy a fat PIG," Miranda makes market day an unforgettable experience--all in the name of what's for lunch. The lively rhyming text is closely linked to the pictures, with Stevens' illustrations capturing the comical goings-on in wildly funny fashion: a shopper wheeling a cart stuffed with a large pink pig; successive trips to the store for a hen, a goose, a trout, a lamb, and other animals; the harried shopper valiantly trying to control her animal visitors while hanging on to her purse and keeping her hat and glasses on her head; and the final clever (vegetarian) solution that pleases beast and human alike. The double-spread collages burst with activity and color. Stevens has used black-and-white photos (of the market, of the shopper's kitchen) as backgrounds to showcase her colorful cast, and the mismatched effect is at once crazy and clever, striking and odd. It may take some doing to unravel all the hectic activity, but children won't mind in the least. ((Reviewed November 1, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)