I Know an Old Lady

by G. Brian Karas

"I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. / I don't know why she swallowed a fly. / Perhaps she'll die." In Brian Karas's zany interpretation of this classic children's song, a young boy spies an old lady with a big appetite for animals. (Musical score included.)

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens, Animals, Poetry

32 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

G. Brian Karas has illustrated close to ninety children’s books. He has also written and illustrated several titles, including HOME ON THE BAYOU, a BOSTON-GLOBE-HORN Book Honor winner. He lives in Rhinebeck, New York.

Reviews

[Christy Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written as an interpretation of the classic children's song about a boy spying a old lady with a big appetite for animals.

I found it weird and awful for the woman to eat animals, insects and spider. From a fly to a horse get real.

Each animal was to catch the previous one which I don't know why a goat would catch a dog or a horse a cow.

I gave a three star for the rhyming and just being nutty.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun version, although I wasn't super thrilled with the illustrations. They didn't always seem to be on the page where I wanted them...

[Alejandra M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

[Madison Dick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun twist on the nursery rhyme/ song through the perspective of a little boy.

[Ronyell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read many versions of the classic “There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly” folk song and I have stumbled upon this version of the classic folk song and now I kind of wish I did not read this version. “I Know an Old Lady” is a retelling of the classic folk song illustrated by G. Brian Karas and it is about how an old lady starts eating up every animal she comes across while a little boy witnesses her actions. “I Know an Old Lady” might not be a good choice for some smaller children to handle since it is a bit too spooky for them to handle.

The only thing I liked about this book was the folk song portion of the story since it is a classic to listen to and even though the folk song is somewhat morbid, since it mentions animals being eaten and a death theme, it is silly enough where small children will just sing to the tune of the song. I also loved the fact that this book provided a lyrics sheet at the end of this book so that way anyone who wants to play this song on any kind of musical instrument can easily look at the back of the book to find the lyrics sheet.

I rarely came across books that I did not enjoy and this was one of those books that I did not enjoy. The main problem I had with this version of the classic folk song were the illustrations since G. Brian Karas’ illustrations are a bit too disturbing as the old lady is shown to be a sadistic looking character as she always have an evil smile on her face whenever she is advancing towards an unsuspecting animal in a menacing manner. Probably the most disturbing image in this book was the image of the little old lady eating a goat and you can actually see her put the goat in her mouth while she is devouring it. Also, another problem I had with this book is the idea that the old lady is eating innocent animals for no apparent reason and that is pretty disturbing to some small children. I also sort of found the idea about the little boy just observing the old lady’s actions instead of sort of stepping in and telling her to stop eating all the animals a bit off-putting to me since in the original folk song, there were no witnesses to the old lady’s wild actions, so it made the folk song more comfortable to listen to, but having a little boy witnessing something sort of horrific made this version a bit disturbing to handle.

All in all, “I Know an Old Lady” is definitely a version of the classic folk song I would definitely not want to check out again and now I can see why this version is mostly forgotten since it is a bit terrifying for smaller children to handle. If you want to read other versions of “There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly” then I would suggest reading Simms Taback’s version over this version since it is much sillier than this version.

[Sandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love this book...its just a fun book/song. I searched for this book because I remembered how much I liked this song when I was a kid and I wanted to share it with my daughter.

She loves this book and we check it out often at the library. The drawings of the old lady make us laugh and we have read it enough that she has it memorized and we sing it in the car going to town.

Highly reccomend this book, its silly and lots of fun!!

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is very cute. This story was very humorous and kept me smiling throughout the book. At the end of the book, all of the words get used and turned into a song. I recommend reading this book to your students if you're an educator for kids. It will get the class to wonder why things happened the way it did. You can also ask open ended questions to see what they predict will happen next. Enjoy!!

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter read it aloud and laughed and giggled over it. Funny book and illustrations.
In real life it tells us to just ignore small things in life. To not make a mountain of a mole. "Perhaps she'll die" is what we need to remember and not to go after or get obsessed with one small thing in life.

[Kristie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've seen better versions and variations of this fun song.

[Rima Halig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a cute story, keeps you guessing as to what thing she will swallow next! There is also a cute song the students can sing in the back of the book.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classic "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" folk song redone with G. Brian Karas' classic illustrations. Cute, if maybe a bit too scary for young ones.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have NEVER liked this story / song, but it was an okay version.

[Emmy Ryan]

this is about an old lady who swallows a fly and many other different animals. it is a rhyming book and very funny. this book is also a song you can sing