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Summary
Summary
People will tell you that all little Miss Muffet wanted was to sit quietly and eat her curds and whey. They'll insist that she was so scared of a spider, she ran away from it, and that's where her story ends. Well, those people are wrong! Miss Muffet is more daring than that--and so is the spider. Together, they head off on an escapade involving a host of other nursery rhyme characters to help a famous old monarch who's lost his fiddlers three.
Told in clever verse arranged like a musical theater production, this hilarious picture book reveals the true story of the adventures of Miss Muffet and her spider friend.
Author Notes
Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 3, 1948, and lived most of her early life in North Massapequa on Long Island. She attended Queens College, City University of New York as an English major and education student, and for her junior year, attended Reading University, in England. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from Queens and a MA in Communications from New York University. Marilyn Singer had been teaching English in New York City high schools for several years when she began writing in 1974. Initially, she wrote film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides and filmstrips. She also began looking into magazine writing. Her article proposals were not very successful, but she did manage to have some of her poetry published. Then one day she penned a story featuring talking insects she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories and in 1976 her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published.
Since then, Marilyn has published more than 50 books for children and young adults. In addition to a rich collection of fiction picture books, Singer has also produced a wide variety of nonfiction works for young readers as well as several poetry volumes in picture book format. Additionally, Singer has edited volumes of short stories for young adult readers, including Stay True: Short Stories for Strong Girls and I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes with Religion.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Many have thought that poor little Miss Muffet was the sad and dainty victim of a wayward spider. Well, there's much more to her story than curds and whey and running away. Patience Muffet is tired of being asked to conform to society's norms. She is not interested in fancy clothes or arranging flowers, like her mother, nor is she interested in identifying insects, like her father. Her ambition is to master the fiddle. This greatly displeases her mother, and life becomes so miserable that Patience runs away, accompanied by none other than the spider himself! They encounter many adventures and intriguing characters during their journey to find freedom and achievement. Does Patience accomplish her goals and break the mold, or does she return to her expected role? Written as a screenplay for a musical, this picture book is very different in format and compelling. Geared toward older children, this selection would be more easily performed or enjoyed alone, rather than used as a read-aloud. There are many facets to delve into and explore. There is the meat of the story, beautifully told in verse, as well as a musical narration by a trio of observers. In addition, there are stage notes in text boxes that set the scene and conversational text in speech bubbles. All of these elements come together on each page to create a narrative that brims with life. The illustrations, rendered in mixed media, are as intriguing and diverse as the text. VERDICT A richly complex fractured fairly tale well suited for classroom sharing, performance, or readers' theater.-Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's possible to turn a four-line nursery rhyme into an elaborate period verse drama-Singer (Echo Echo) proves it, framing this elegant makeover as a theatrical production, complete with stage directions and musical numbers. Mrs. Muffet wants daughter Patience to be more ladylike, her husband wishes she shared his passion for etymology, but Patience dreams of playing the violin. The famous meeting on the tuffet startles Patience, but Webster the spider proves an unexpected ally. The two leave home, form a trio with Bo-Peep (an aspiring fiddler), foil a pair of thieves ("Prepare yourselves to meet your enemy," Webster threatens, "You will find me rather venomy"), and finish with an impromptu performance for King Cole. Faced with a plethora of characters with speaking lines (and quite a few lines at that), Litchfield (The Bear and the Piano) keeps the cast straight and the action easy to read, and his rich, mixed-media illustrations and period costumes strike the right light-opera note. Webster and Patience are engaging heroes, and Singer's verse sparkles. Ages 6-9. Illustrator's agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Group. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Singer elaborates on the nursery rhyme, concocting a theatrical piece--including script, stage directions, chorus lyrics, satire, subplots, patter songs, and stock characters--all illustrated in an energetically lurid mixed-media style. There are moments of wit (Miss Muffet and Bo-Peep are virtuoso fiddlers) and some dandy outlandish rhymes, but what might work on the stage is chaotic on the page, lacking focus and narrative logic. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
