Hobbledy-Clop - Hardcover

Pat Phillipsburg is the author of more than ten books for children, including The Summer My Father Was Ten, winner of the Christopher Medal. She lives in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

Maxie Chambliss is the illustrator of more than sixty books for children, including I'm a Big Sister and I'm a Big Brother by Joanna Cole. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

PreSchool-K-In this cumulative tale, Brendan O'Doyle journeys up the hill to surprise grandmother with a tea party. Wearing the tablecloth as a cape and pulling his supplies along in his red wagon, the boy is joined, in order, by his pet snake, dog, cat, and horse. Grandma is stout and old-fashioned looking with gray curly hair and half-glasses. She does not mind being interrupted while weeding her garden, and enjoys sitting down to tea. The snake tickles her and sends her into a fit of giggles, causing a mishap; Brendan joins in and more confusion and catastrophes ensue. Giggles over, they settle down and soon pack up so that Brendan and friends can return home after a good-bye kiss. The story is told in the style of an old Irish folktale with repetition of "hobbledy-clop" to describe the little red wagon moving over the road. Chambliss's clear, watercolor cartoons, many of them spreads, show a happy group traveling past rolling green hills and a red barn to Grandma's little house and garden. The text and pictures blend well and the story rolls along at a leisurely pace. Good for storytime with the group joining in on the "hobbledy-clops" and also for one-on-one reading.
Marlene Gawron, formerly at Orange County Library, Orlando, FL
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