There Was an Old Scientist Who Swallowed a Dinosaur!

June 10, 2019
Colandro’s long-running series, which puts fresh twists on the cumulative nursery rhyme “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” here casts an astronaut as the central character: “There was an old lady who swallowed a star. It was bizarre to swallow a star!” In Lee’s quirky, grainy artwork, the “old astronaut” has big, bulgy eyes and an enormous jaw that expands to devour the moon. Two child characters appear as astronauts in space, where they make observations about the sun, moon, and galaxy: “The star closest to Earth is the sun. Our solar system only has one!” On Earth, they gaze skyward as a comet streaks by: “Why does the comet leave a bright trail?” By book’s end, the astronaut has swallowed the moon, meteoroid, planet, rocket, and satellite—or so it seems. Colandro offers an enjoyable readaloud filled with outer space facts, including back matter with vocabulary definitions and a search-and-find activity. Ages 4–8.

April 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-In this fun retelling of the popular rhyme, the omnivorous old lady is an astronaut. She starts off by eating the moon, a star, a planet, a comet, a meteoroid, a rocket, and, eventually, a satellite. It is then revealed that it was her imagination and that all this time she was in a planetarium observing space up above from the museum. Each rhyming sentence is followed by a true fact about the item being swallowed. The exaggerated cartoon drawings highlight the nonsensical elements of the story, and more detailed material about the celestial bodies is appended. VERDICT A great introduction to early readers who are beginning to learn about space, who will laugh about the adventures of the old astronaut and learn valuable information at the same time. Great for school and library collections.-Annmarie Braithwaite, New York Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2019
Ever ready to extend her culinary experience, the old lady of song turns to astrophagy.Colandro's 17th (and counting) riff on the classic cumulative rhyme sends the space-suited elder into space to swallow the moon ("It happened at noon at noon"). She then goes on in no obviously logical fashion to chow down on a star, a planet, a comet, a meteoroid, a rocket ("It was next on the docket"), and a satellite--before settling at last, in Lee's frenetically stippled climactic scene, amid a diverse group of awestruck children beneath a gloriously crowded planetarium "sky." In between verses two young and generally earthbound observers, one a child of color and the other white, step in to supply basic astro-facts ("That meteoroid made a loud sound!" observes one; the other explains, "It's a meteorite when it hits the ground") that are extended, at least a little, in a set of closing notes. And a search-and-find game at the end invites emergent stargazers to go back in search of various objects hidden in the cartoon starscapes. The titular old astronaut will be instantly recognizable to fans of the series as the bespectacled, white-bunned, lantern-jawed white protagonist they've come to know.The archetype's patterns are just visible enough to boost this light payload of silliness and STEM-ware into orbit. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

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June 1, 2022
"There was an old scientist who swallowed a dinosaur. / I don't know why she swallowed a dinosaur, but she went to explore." She swallows a fern to feed the saurian, then a rock and a pick and a dustpan. In between the old scientist's gastronomical feats, two children, one tan-skinned and one light-skinned--ask each other questions or spout facts about dinosaurs and paleontology. "Fossils are rocks containing traces of the past." "Evidence of plants and animals built to last!" The book, the latest of Colandro's many takes on the "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" song, closes with the old scientist, the kids, and the dinosaurs visiting a museum of natural history. With a rhyme scheme that is often as strained as the conceit of the voracious old lady, Colandro makes another foray into nonfiction that is relatively light on facts (previous titles have explored holidays, the seasons, astronomy, and undersea life). Lee is again along to offer his signature bug-eyed and scribbly illustrations that can be a bit unnerving at times. The children's rhyming banter in speech bubbles interrupts the old lady patter, making the whole at once familiar and clunky. Paleo facts and a scavenger hunt at the end might add to the instruction and the fun respectively. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Not the duo's best, but fans will enjoy the effort. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

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