NURSERY RHYME WRITERS LEAVE OUT ALL THE BEST BITS … THIS SERIES UNCOVERS THE SHOCKING TRUE STORIES BEHIND THE FLUFFY LEGENDS
The Nursery Rhyme world is rife with crime! But don’t let a prissy dress and large pink bow fool you. Amateur sleuth, Little Miss Muffet, is up to any challenge. She laughs in the face of cover ups, corruption and confusingly incomplete rhymes.
Nursery Crimes reveals the terrible crimes behind our much loved nursery rhymes.
Case 1: Baaa Baa Black Sheep, The Fleeced Fleeced
Baaa Baa Black Sheep is suspicious.
What’s Farmer Fred up to?
Why is he giving all her precious black wool away? They could make a killing on the white-market!
Is Baaa Baa being fleeced?
Will the feisty Little Miss Muffet, amateur detective and world-renowned arachnid expert, solve the mystery before it’s too late?
And how did Little Bo Peep get mixed up in all this? It all sounds a bit crook …
The Nursery Crimes series doggedly takes on the cover-ups and complex web of crime and corruption in seven popular nursery rhymes and with the help of Little Miss Muffet finally unlock the secrets to these much-loved, but confusingly incomplete, rhymes.
bs_admin –
Told in an interesting style where the narrator and an imaginary reader engage in a conversation, as though the narrator is anticipating the questions a real reader might ask, it is engaging and different and designed to appeal to the newly-independent reader who is ready to move on but would still benefit from the familiarity of known characters. It is reminiscent of the fractured fairytale format where something well-known is turned on its head and examined more closely, told from a different perspective and raises issues that might not otherwise have been thought about.
Barbara Braxton Review
http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
Barbara Braxton – The bottomshelf –
Cleverly illustrated by David Atze that takes it out of the realm of the usual cutsie graphics of nursery rhymes, this is fun and perfect for those who like something out of left-field.
Barbara Braxton –
Sheep go to a lot of trouble to grow their wool to keep themselves warm, but as soon as it gets to a certain length the farmer shears it off and sells it., often making a lot of money for it, particularly if it is black like Baaa Baa’s. Surrounded by high fences, spotlights and video cameras so neither she nor her wool could be stolen, Baaa Baa was fed the best food and was shorn twice a year whereas her lighter cousins were only shorn once. Once shorn the wool was stored in a closely-monitored control centre with television surveillance so it is certainly precious. So when Farmer Fred sells one of the three precious bags to the local headmaster, another to Dame Horrida and the third to Theodore Thumpnose, the local bully, when he could have got much for it at the wool market, suspicions are raised….
This is the first of seven stories investigating the crimes in the nursery rhymes that little ones hear so often. Told in an interesting style where the narrator and an imaginary reader engage in a conversation, as though the narrator is anticipating the questions a real reader might ask, it is engaging and different and designed to appeal to the newly-independent reader who is ready to move on but would still benefit from the familiarity of known characters. It is reminiscent of the fractured fairytale format where something well-known is turned on its head and examined more closely, told from a different perspective and raises issues that might not otherwise have been thought about.
Donna Isgar – ReadPlus –
What a funny re-imaging, with a clever twist, of the popular nursery rhyme, Baa baa black sheep.
The book’s illustrations, in black and white, feature cartoonish characters and add to the humour of the book.
Cameron Macintosh –
Book one in John Barwick’s Nursery Crimes series is an hilarious twist on the fractured fairytales genre that will have huge appeal for both confident and reluctant readers aged 7–10. This is more than just a quirky retelling of a nursery rhyme – it stretches the old Baa Baa Black Sheep rhyme into a crime story with multiple twists and surprises, not to mention delicious puns. Adult readers will also enjoy Barwick’s knack for gently poking fun at fairytale tropes and clichés.
With the help of amateur detective Little Miss Muffet, Baaa Baa seeks to find out why her precious black wool is being given away for free to suspicious folks like a master, a dame and a little boy who lives down a certain lane nearby. In the course of investigations, Little Miss Muffet and Baaa Baa uncover a network of felonious fairytale folk with sinister intentions – but can their plans be foiled?
Illustrator Dave Atze is clearly in his element with this kind of text. His illustrations, which appear on most spreads, add to the story’s fun and humour and beautifully complement Barwick’s clear, comical writing.