So begins this hilarious nonsense rhyme by a much-loved writer who won wide critical acclaim and a devoted audience during his lifetime. Now this poem has been illustrated in full color by Erik Blegvad, an old friend of Bodecker's and the only person besides himself that he would allow to interpret work.

Poor Mary is the person who must make all the preparation for winter in a frenzied crescendo of activity -- "Churn the butter, smoke the hams, can tomatoes, put up jams" -- leading up to a very funny, very fitting, ending.

Illuminated by Bodecker's rare imagination, his glorious sense of the absurd, and his firsthand knowledge of country living, all beautifully matched by Erik Blegvad's wonderous watercolor paintings, this is a book to delight young readers and their elders again and again.