I bought this book when I was a teenager with no children because, obviously, every household needs one. Fast forward a few decades, my oldest child is 40 and the book has been well-read, as the page-turning tears attest. And yesterday, after all those innumerable readings, I still found a new detail in the illustration for "An epicure, dining at Crewe/ Found quite a large mouse in his stew." The epicure is a huge, and hugely annoyed, bear; the mouse sporting a long stripy swimsuit and lifebuoy; the diners in the background include two cats who are obviously saying "Ooh, I want what he's having!" Behind all that, I finally noticed, the restaurant name on the window is CANEM'S CAVE and it advertises Good Grubs. There is literally something new to find every time. And it never ceases to be humorous. Tripp did a series of three books of funny poetry (Granfa Grig Had a Pig and Marguerite Go Wash Your Feet are the others) but I rather think he used the best verses first. If I had to choose one "nursery rhyme" book that I would never get tired of reading aloud, this would be it; Leslie Brooke's Ring of Roses would be a close second. ( )

A LOL collection of verse for children with pictures as funny as the poetry. Tripp’s use of mostly animal characters as well as a few human caricatures are a delight for all ages. To pick just one example, in the two page spread for “Hannah Bantry in the panty,” Hanna, a cat wearing a tiara is greedily gnawing at a bone all to herself, while out in the grand dining room a collection of foxes, cats, and badgers are seated at a grand dining room table, all of them with their noses up in the air and looking quite snooty. Behind them a guilt frame upon the wall is a painting of a family of lions strolling before a woodland waterfall. The painting’s title is “Pride Goeth Before a Fall.” ( )

I did not understand 80% of these as a child (though the illustrations are enough to keep one busy), but have always been able to remember the first two poems...some of the only poems I have ever been able to memorize! I need to rescue this from storage and see if I get anything new out of it, but I will surely always keep and treasure this book. ( )

This book has lots of short verses on each page mostly about animals.

I like this book although it is a little old and the wording is difficult to read. The pictures are wonderful with lots of detail.

I think this book would be good for very young children to look at the detailed pictures but because of the difficult language, I am not sure which age level would find this interesting. It would probably be good to read aloud in conjunction with a chapter on poetry. ( )

There are at least four layers to what is depicted in Tripp's work, and running all of them down is often beyond most adults, to say nothing of children. This book is one of several reasons I was such a warped child. ( )