The Aunts Go Marching

by Maurie J. Manning

Turning the tables on the popular children's song, a lively picture book follows a girl who marches through the rain, beating on a drum and leading rows of "aunts" dressed in raincoats.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Music, Storytime

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Maurie J. Manning is the author and illustrator of Kitchen Dance, a beloved read-aloud and "small moments" teaching tool, and Laundry Day, a graphic novel-style celebration of immigrant culture in 1900's NYC. Both were published by Clarion Books and earned multiple starred reviews from The Horn Book, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly. Her work also includes text collaboration and the illustrations for the Gallup Press bestseller How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids, which has sold over 400,000 copies and remains a staple for school-year kickoffs nationwide. She is still writing picture books, but has taken a fun detour into writing YA Speculative Horror, recently completing an 85K word novel.

As a single mother, she adopted two older multi-racial children. Now grown, the things they have taught her about privilege, representation, and resilience in the face of trauma reflect heavily on all of the stories she creates.

A longtime board member of the Picture Book Artists Association, Maurie lives in California's Central Valley with too many pets.

Reviews

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

(CIP) Dressed in raincoats and carrying umbrellas, a platoon of aunts march through the rainy city streets led by a little girl with a drum in this cumulative rhyme.

(Claudia) An attractive counting, singing storytime book, with a multicultural cast of aunts. The varied adventures of the “little one” – a self-confident preschooler (Latina?) – her dog, and her affectionate particular aunt provide lots of interest for one-on-one readings.

(SLJ) "Youngsters will thoroughly enjoy … this classic childhood song … [and] Manning’s clever full-page spreads. PreS-Gr 1."

(Horn Book) "There are opportunities to count those multitudinous aunts, .... but in the end, it’s the cheerful nonsense that prevails, and the chance to chime in on the repetitive text, or to sing it."

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A differn't take on the clasic song the ants goplaying a drum to and from the center of town as they grow in number. marching with the ants being replaced by Aunts who march along with a little girl playing a drum as the aunts increase in number. toddler and up

[Fahula · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kids love singing along to this story, the familiar song is bolstered by the addition of the drum beats and booming thunder. They also love the colourful illustrations of the little girl and the aunts. I like to bring this story out on a wet spring day or when I’m teaching arrays.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages 3 and up. The classic counting song retold with humor and luminous illustrations. One of the rare picture books featuring an Asian main character that doesn't focus on her cultural heritage.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunts with umbrellas go marching in the rain.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library this week. He still likes his counting books.

This is not a cumulative story. A cumulative story would be "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", or "The Ladies of the Harem of the Court of King Caractacus". This is a progressive story, and is based on "The Ants Go Marching". It is a charming twist.

The illustrations, likewise, are charming. But SO confusing for a five-year-old boy. I would have preferred if the illustrator had only shown two aunts when the aunts were marching two by two, or at least had enough space between the aunts to distinguish how they were marching. We stopped counting the aunts in a row by three because it was really more of a crowd of aunts than anything else.


Actual rating: 3.5, but I round up.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids LOVE this book. I sing it even though it is just written. The only thing is there are just a couple of places where the rhythm/rhyme gets off due to what is happening but the kids don't get that. They just know it should sound like the rest of the book. But we still hear "Rata ta tat. Ba-rump, ba-rump, ba-rump, BOOM!" all over the house. Can't say that isn't a good book!

[Kristie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cumulative story with a twist on the good ol' song "The Ants Go Marching" allows children to chime in on the story. If they don't feel like singing, they can keep the beat by drumming.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This illustrated songbook uses "aunts" in place of "ants" for a fun retelling of the well known chanting song.

[jenna Hudrlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun to sing and pics were nice and bright

[Christine Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cumulative rhyme.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute version of "The Ants Go Marching." Get it? Ants? Aunts?

[Nancy J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has rhythm, counting, and a rain parade through the town! It's a fun book!

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of our family favorites... fun, and a fun play on words too.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book to sing and count along to.

[Weisser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for PK to grade 1 to focus on the letter A, counting, homophones and predictions.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun book to sing with kiddos - I have them sing the rat-a-tat-tat interlude and we usually make rain noises by slapping our legs.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dressed in raincoats and carrying umbrellas, a platoon of aunts march through the rainy city streets led by a little girl with a drum in this cumulative rhyme.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun!! I have the delightful name of "Great Ter" to my great nieces and nephews - Next time I see them I'll read them my book - can't wait!!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book that sings. Good for story time.

[Bailey Robertson]

The Aunts Go Marching is a book about a little girl who is walking down the street with her aunt, in the rain. As they are walking, more and more aunts seem to join them until hundreds are marching with them! It gets rainier and rainier, until they hear a loud BOOM! They all march away and go inside.

This book is a cute one when it comes to repetitive rhymes. As I read it, I sang it like a song because of the perfect amounts of rhyming words and syllables. It was a great book for young readers!

In the classroom this book can be good for repetition of words and rhymes.