Mary had a little lamp

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Title:

Mary had a little lamp

Author:

Lechner, Jack, author.

Staake, Bob, 1957- illustrator.

Summary:

Mary takes her "bendy," gooseneck lamp wherever she goes, much to the dismay of her parents and classmates, but after leaving it at home during summer camp, Mary finds that she has outgrown her need for her odd companion.

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Physical Description:

1 v. (unpage) : col. ill. ; 26 cm.

Genre:

Stories in rhyme.

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Lamps -- Juvenile fiction.

Security (Psychology) -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Staake, Bob, 1957-

Publisher:

Bloomsbury Children's Books : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers,

Electronic Access:

Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

Publication Date:

2008

ISBN:

9781599901695

9781599901923

Publication Information:

New York : Bloomsbury Children's Books : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2008.

Call Number:

P LECHNER

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002176173	Picture Books	LECHNER	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Updating the classic rhyme with "appliance humor," gives this book a hilarious twist and a great new take on the "beloved transitional object" story. Mary has a little lamp that she takes everywhere: to school, the movies, the circus, the zoo, even a wedding. One day Mary heads off to summer camp without her bendy-necked lamp and discovers that life without a lamp isn't so bad! In fact, when Mary returns home, her little lamp stays on her shelf for good. Now what will she find instead?

Author Notes

Jack Lechner is a film producer & former executive vice president of production & development for Miramax Films. He lives in New York City.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (1)

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-Mother Goose fans will delight in this offbeat interpretation of the classic nursery rhyme. Instead of a devoted shepherdess, Lechner's Mary is a sassy redhead with an unexplained fondness for her desk lamp. The singsong text imitates the more traditional verse beginning with the lines, "Mary had a little lamp-/The bendy, gooseneck kind./And everywhere that Mary went/She dragged the lamp behind." Despite the confused disapproval of her friends and family, Mary takes the beloved object everywhere, even to her cousin's wedding. ("`We told her she could have a dog-/She wanted this instead!'") Much to her parents' surprise, Mary does not insist on taking it with her when she goes to summer camp. While swimming, canoeing, and having fun, she outgrows her attachment to the lamp. However, when she returns home, she finds a more satisfactory companion-a toaster. The eclectic computer-generated cartoon illustrations are composed of clever combinations of geometric shapes to depict the characters and setting. On one spread, the child walks her lamp down a busy street of multicolored buildings. Traffic stops, curious neighbors peer out of windows, and pedestrians stare at the girl and her unusual pet. For an extra chuckle, young readers will enjoy perusing the brief make-believe reviews from other nursery-rhyme characters on the back cover. This book may be paired with Janet Stevens's And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (Harcourt, 2001), which plays with another nursery rhyme.-Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.