Cat Goes Fiddle-i-Fee

December 1, 1985
PreS-Gr 2 -This traditional barnyard song is readily available in collections (with music and/or accompanying motions) and also in at least one other picture book version, illustrated by Diane Stanley (Little, 1979; o.p.). Nevertheless, Galdone does a workmanlike job both in the retelling and the illustrations. His cast of charactersunlike Stanley's tarted-up pigs with ties and cats in silk and plumesappear in their natural fur and feathers, crunching apples, pecking for bugs and eating hay. The line-up is the traditional onewith the addition of a grandmother for the final stanza, presumably to lend a sense of conclusion to the text. The cartoon illustrations are bright and cheerful, with each new animal being individually introduced on a double-page spread, then joining the other animals under "yonder tree" in the succeeding double-page layouta design device that reinforces the rhythm and balance of the song itself. This edition will prove useful to librarians and parents who feel more comfortable holding and showing a book while they sing. Kristi Thomas Beavin, Arlington County Public Library, Va.

July 1, 2017
In this inexpensive paper-over-board reissue, Galdone straightforwardly adapts the lyrics to the classic folk song with unassuming pictures that provide just enough embellishment. Plenty of white space gives the story all the room it needs.

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