There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Turkey Review

Gobble, gobble. Gobble, gobble. (That’s turkey for “not my favorite book!”).

In There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro, the infamous Old Lady from the There was an Old Lady series is at it again. This time, she’s somehow digesting everything from a turkey to a float that would fit in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Compared to some of the other books in this series, this book was not my favorite. One of the main reasons is that I felt the rhythm of the book was slightly off and the ending went slightly off track from the traditional formula, but not in the most effective way. A major reason why these books are so successful is because the words just roll of the tongue. Saying the list of things that the old lady ate as quickly as possible makes the book even funnier. In this book, however, some of the phrases were slightly awkward and flowed less smoothly. The ending also didn’t follow the same scheme, which also threw me off.

Some of the items also do not relate as directly to the book’s Thanksgiving theme. Even though it all makes sense in the end, readers may be confused since some of the other holiday inspired books stay more on theme. For example, the old lady swallows a boat and tires. Even though this relates to the float at the end, there are many more theme-related objects that could have been put in their places.

One positive aspect of this book is that it is still as completely outrageous as the other books in this series. Children will laugh as the objects get bigger and bigger as the story moves along. In that sense, I really liked how the book stayed true to the rest of the series. Since many of my other points might not matter to the children actually reading the book, but this aspect does matter, I think staying true the outrageous quality of this series makes the book successful.

While I think this is a fun book to read with your family on Thanksgiving, it is definitely not my favorite in the series. I give this book three out of five stars.

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