She swallowed some leaves, perhaps she'll sneeze!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!

Written by Lucille Colandro

Illustrated by Jared Lee

Scholastic Inc., 2010

31 Pages

Fiction

          I wanted to read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!  to find out what the old lady had gotten herself into this time! This is a great series that keeps kids wondering what the old lady is going to swallow next. She swallows leaves, she swallows a shirt to fill it with the leaves, she swallows a pumpkin to wear the shirt, she continues on, swallowing a pole, pants, rope, and then some hay. The old lady finally has to sneeze! When she does, everything she swallowed comes out and creates a pumpkin man!

Lee uses watercolor and pen to create his illustrations. His illustrations are very humorous as is the story. He uses the colors of fall, browns, oranges, yellows and reds to set the scene for the season. The illustrations vary between two page, one page, and framed illustrations. He also varies in the placement of the text, formal and informal are both present in this book. 

This would be a great book to use in language arts when teaching rhyming or sequencing. The students could match words such as bat and that, bumpkin and pumpkin, or roll and pole. Students could explain what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the book. This book could be used as an introduction to a science lesson about leaves. Students could go on a nature walk to collect leaves, and then incorporate art by having students make leaf prints or create collage art out of leaves.This book has not received any awards.