Old MacDonald on the Move
Philip Ardagh and Maria Karipidou
Walker Books

Philip Ardagh has taken the popular nursery rhyme and twisted it hither and thither to create a zany new version.

Nothing, it seems, is going right for Old MacDonald, (now an aging fellow) when his beloved farm starts crumbling before his eyes. First it’s the leaking barn roof. So to save his cows from the continual drip, dripping, he takes them off to a grand hotel for a couple of weeks while he attends to the leak. Next, the pigsty begins to sink, so the pigs are taken to join the cows, followed not long after by the loss of the hen coop.

Then the creek runs dry so, on account of no water and thus no grass, the sheep too are taken to become hotel guests.

Back at the farm Old MacDonald looks around. Enough! he decides. He puts the farm up for sale and moves out forthwith. Now, where will they all live … It’s in their happy ever after home. E-I-E-I-O!

Young children will delight in joining in with the animal sounds and repeat refrains, as well as watching the drama unfold in Maria Karipidou’s hilarious, contrasting scenes of the farm and the hotel. Look out for the mice and their diverting antics.