Module 9: Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty?

Amazon. (2012). Who pushed humpty dumpty?
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Book Summary: Consists of short vignettes of fairy tales and nursery rhymes that are “genre-fied” by mystery. The vignettes are tied together by Detective Binky who sets out to solve each mystery from who broke into the Three Bears’ House, who poisoned Snow White, and who pushed Humpty Dumpty, what happened to the missing witch who lives in the house made of candy, and more.

APA Reference:

Levinthal, D. (2012). Who pushed Humpty Dumpty? And other notorious nursery tale mysteries.

New York City: Schwartz & Wade Books.

Impressions: I wasn't too impressed with Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty. The idea of a police investigator solving nursery rhyme and fairy tale mysteries is cute, but Levinthal tries to push too much text on one page. Additionally, the illustrations are not very impressive. I like the use of color vs. sepia tones when victims tell what happened vs. present day, but, the actual artistic style is quite upsetting and doesn't seem very appropriate for the intended audience (i.e. giving the children sharp teeth). In fact, the illustrations remind me of Beavis and Butthead.

Professional Review:

Chipman, I. (2012, September 15). Who pushed Humpty Dumpty? And other notorious nursery tale mysteries [review of Who pushed Humpty Dumpty? And other notorious nursery tale mysteries]. Booklist, 109(2), 73. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/

Grades K-3 A little wisp of a toad named Binky has seen it all, or so he thinks. The black-suited detective (Pinecone Division) gets called to finger the perp in a series of cases, from the blonde porridge-eater troubling the Bear family and the kids who took down the candy house deep in the woods to the piggie who lost his temper with Humpty and an apple-poisoning, mirror-obsessed judge of a beauty pageant. Kids will certainly be familiar with all these stories, and Levinthal supplies just enough of a twist with each one to make them fresh again without necessarily reinventing any of them. What’ll really stop kids in their tracks, though, is Nickle’s acrylic artwork. His sophisticated touch is as equally suited to the dramatic, black-and-white re-creations of the crimes as it is to the cheeky scenes of Binky gumshoeing about with various woodland creatures. Hook this one up with Margie Palatini’s The Web Files (2001) and Jeanie Franz Ransom’s What Really Happened to Humpty? (2009) for a soft-boiled shamus storytime.

Library Use: Teacher resource! In the 2nd grade TEKS, students are expected to compare and contrast different versions of fairy tales and nursery stories. And Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty is a great story to include.

Resources

Texas Education Agency. (2014, August). Texas essential knowledge and skills for grade 2. Retrieved from http://tea.texas.gov/uploadedFiles/Curriculum/Texas_Essential_Knowledge_ and_Skills/docs/Grade2_TEKS_0814.pdf