The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon

Mini Grey’s spin on the nursery rhyme classic “Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle” is a love story of sorts that starts when “the dish ran away with the spoon.” In the midst of the Great Depression, Dish and Spoon become rich and famous vaudeville stars—until their taste for the high life puts them in debt to a gang of sharp and shady characters (depicted as evil knives). The cinematic presentation—with a touch of Bonnie and Clyde, a dash of “The Perils of Pauline”—proves that crime doesn’t pay and love conquers all. A visual treat with new details to discover again and again, here is absurd good fun for the whole family.

Grade 1-4-This romanticized, fractured spin on the classic nursery rhyme has the dish and the spoon running away to New York City to seek fortune and fame. They succeed at both, but a nonstop spending spree soon brings them to the door of some sharp and shady characters who gladly offer to lend them money. When their clients are unable to make their payments, a chase ensues, and, in desperation, the dish and the spoon rob a bank and end up in jail, separated for 25 years. Readers and listeners alike will love the sharp and shady gang in the guise of a meat cleaver, a serrated knife, and a cooking fork with menacing eyes and legs, while the stylish collage illustrations of early-20th-century New York City, in split-screen format, will dazzle and amaze them. The age-old lesson that crime doesn't pay and the poignant beauty of true love enduring the test of time are playfully and delicately portrayed. Combine this contemporary makeover with the classic original for a delightful mix that is full of panache. A whole new generation of youngsters, as well as older kids, will be enthusiastically chanting this nursery rhyme.-Wanda Meyers-Hines, Ridgecrest Elementary School, Huntsville, AL
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K-Gr. 3. In imagining precisely what happened in "Hey Diddle Diddle" after the Dish ran away with the Spoon, Grey (author-illustrator of the ebullient Traction Man, 2006) spins her creative powers to new heights. Narrated by Spoon, who trusts Dish wherever she might go, the story tells of how the pair end up in New York, their vaudeville act a great success. But Dish loves the high life. With all their money gone, they turn to "sharp and shady characters" (goons in the sinister shapes of knives and a fork). A bank robbery attempt leaves Dish broken and Spoon imprisoned. Twenty-five years later, Spoon finds himself in a secondhand store where Dish, repaired but "cracked" and "crazed," awaits their tender reunion. Visual puns and sly references abound, although it's the older generation that will be more likely to catch them. What will delight children are Grey's eclectic, colorful artwork, varied compositions, and irreverence toward a familiar rhyme. Use this alongside Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! (1989). GraceAnne DeCandido
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