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Summary
Summary
Moe hollered, "Look, Mother, up on the wall! If that egg isn't careful, he's going to fall!"Humpty Dumpty is an egg on a mission--to get the best seat in the house for King Moe's birthday parade, no matter how high he has to climb.Timid King Moe also has a mission--to hide from the parade's jugglers, clowns and onlookers, or at least find a seatbelt in his coach.What will happen when the paths of these two opposites cross?
Author Notes
Daniel Kirk is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including Trash Trucks and Moondogs (both Putnam) and Skateboard Monsters (Puffin). He lives in New Jersey. copyright ? 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
Daniel Kirk is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including Trash Trucks and Moondogs (both Putnam) and Skateboard Monsters (Puffin). He lives in New Jersey. copyright ? 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Kirk uses the familiar bouncy rhymes of "Humpty Dumpty" to spin out a tale of an unlikely friendship. When young Humpty's mother reluctantly agrees to let him go to King Moe's birthday parade ("but be careful, OK?/I don't want my egg getting/scrambled today!"), the excited little egg climbs up on his friends' backs, then a lamppost, and finally a brick wall to get a better view. This last climb leads to his famously disastrous fall. Fortunately, he topples directly into the young king's carriage. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put Humpty together again-but fortunately the shy, puzzle-loving Moe can. He admires Humpty's bravery, Humpty admires the king's patience and intelligence, and a new friendship is born. Though the story itself is mediocre, Kirk's bouncing rhymes never falter. The real star, though, is the artwork: a combination of oils, magazine clippings, and computer printouts that gives the pictures a busy, textured look. Crowd scenes are made up of painted images, pictures from magazines, and faces from classic works of art. The hyperrealistic quality of Kirk's earlier books is apparent here, as is his offbeat sense of humor. A winsome, if simple, variation on a favorite rhyme.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, Eldersburg, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Determined to get a good view of the royal parade, egg boy Humpty Dumpty perches on top of a brick wall. But when Humpty loses his balance and topples through the roof of the king's carriage, it's up to shy King Moe to put all of Humpty's pieces together again. Collage art makes this slight tale visually interesting but doesn't make up for a forced and awkward rhyme scheme in the text. From HORN BOOK Fall 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this happy-ending remake of the nursery rhyme, a boy king gets over his shyness by doing himself what all his horses and men couldn't. Having put his fragile shell in danger several times to watch a parade, Humpty pays the price at last with a shattering tumble into the king's carriage. Reassembled with a few Band-Aids, Humpty recovers so quickly that not even a crack is visible by the next page. There another kind of bonding ensues as Humpty praises the king for being thoughtful and patient (readers may wonder why, since he doesn't display either trait), and the king admires his ovoid new friend's courage, which looks more like recklessness from here. The cut-out photos of faces and other details tucked into Kirk's (Moondogs, 1999, etc.) tidy, smooth-surfaced paintings will prompt double takes from viewers, and some chuckles, but the trite plot and long, monotonously rhymed text will get a polite reception at best. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 3^-7. Kirk's latest book gives a pessimistic nursery rhyme a new twist, adding a character who succeeds when all the king's horses and all the king's men fail. Young King Moe, "the most timid boy in the world," hides under his bed all day, piecing together puzzles. His royal path crosses that of Humpty Dumpty, a bored young boy who yearns for excitement, on the day of King Moe's birthday parade. Humpty, who climbs on top of a wall for a better view, falls and crashes through the roof of the young king's coach. The puzzle-mad king puts Humpty back together, and the boys, human and egg, become friends. Kirk's ingenious collages, a mix of contemporary and historical images, are intriguing, although some of the photographed faces staring out of the pictures may seem a bit disturbing to some little ones.--Connie Fletcher
