Humpty Dumpty Egg-Splodes

by Kevin O'Malley

Furious about being teased and taunted for his round, bald body and bad habit of falling off walls, Humpty Dumpty is wreaking havoc throughout Mother Goose Land. With hilarious illustrations and clever wordplays, Kevin O'Malley stands Mother Goose on her head, creating a world of nursery rhyme characters never seen before. IRA-CBC Children's Choices, 2002 Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award, Masterlist, 2002-03 South Dakota Prairie Pasque Children's Book Award, Masterlist, 2002-03

Genres: Picture Books, Folklore, Nursery Rhymes, Humor, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

Kevin O'Malley is the co-author and illustrator of the popular Miss Malarkey series as well as the award-winning Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude and the national bestseller Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
He also has visited hundreds and hundreds of schools.

Reviews

[Sarah Nottingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walker and Company present Humpty Dumpty Egg-Splodes by Kevin O'Malley is about Humpty Dumpty fighting back. Humpty Dumpty is furious about being teased for being bald, fat and falling off walls, so he decides to bring havoc to Mother Goose Land. With Mother Goose out of town, it is up to Old King Cole to restore the town from havoc. Old King Cole is not the smartest one, so he calls upon Peter Piper, Jack Be Nimble, Mary had a little lamb, and the muffin man to help him save the town. Due to the muffin man Humpty Dumpty falls asleep and takes a big fall off the wall and is caught by mother goose's men. After his fall Gregory Griggs makes, Humpty Dumpty a wig and he becomes a big star.

This book would be a fun and entertaining read-aloud for grades 2nd through 3rd grade. You could use this book as an introduction to poetry, explaining the basics of poetry. This lesson plan would also be a great way for your class to see that poetry is entertaining and fun, as well as help the class engage in poetry. The book encompasses the classic nursery rhyme characters with clever wordplays and hilarious illustrations. The entire story encompasses personification and imagery that adds humor to the story; a bald talking egg that falls off a wall. The story also has a rhythm that would add to the read along and make it more entertaining for the students. The illustrations have bright color that enhances the characters and their humorous actions; such as Humpty Dumpty sitting on a house. I think the students would find the story very entertaining in a fresh, new way. After the story, you could lead into a discussion about poetry and its elements. The students could pick out key elements that they notice throughout the story, including personification, rhythm and imagery.

[Benjamin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book that I came across today that is just bursting with nursery rhyme references. In this book Humpty-Dumpty gets angry and savages the kingdom Godzilla-style. They talk about different nursery rhyme characters who are affected and others who are called in as reinforcements. Nothing works until Mother Goose herself arrives to put a plan into action. Then HD is appeased with wigs, all he wanted was to look like an Elvis impersonator it seems. Some of the references are a little forced, but others are fun and the way they broke up some of the verses into different people's dialogue was pretty clever as well.
For me, the most interesting part of the book was actually the book ends with the kid being so embarrassed by his father coming into read until he gets blown away by how crazy the story ends up. A peek back into the classroom in the middle of the story would have been fun I think.

[Enasia Lee]

This book is another version of Humpty Dumpty. It shows a different perspectives and voice from the original version if the story. I would use this book to teach a number of things. First, I would have the students recognize the perspective and voice of the books and then use it for their own writing. For example, come up with a different ending or another voice that you would like to use for this story. What other books would you change? Would you write the story in another person's perspective?

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sort of book that the well-versed reader will understand completely. Unfortunately, it's also the sort of book that children who haven't learned enough Mother Gooose rhymes will get lost in. Both the group that I read with and I enjoyed the rampaging Mr. Dumpty, but I felt like I was enjoying the book more than the rest of the audience, and that can feel a bit lonely. This book is great if you've read a lot of nursery rhymes. It's only sort of good if you haven't polished up on your Mother Goose first.

[Tasasha Battle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a twist on the infamous Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Instead of Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall and all the kings horses and all the kings men putting him together again, Humpty is egg-normous and destroying the town. This book can be used to give students evidence of alternatives endings. They can practice creating their own endings to the different Mother Goose or other stories endings.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really clever book. It referenced many of the Mother Goose nursery rhymes in fun ways. The story was entertaining and in some way rather captivating and suspenseful. Humpty Dumpty is an antagonist, but it ends peacefully and happily.

I have to give this book a four-star-rating because I was not a fan of the illustrations. They were not done poorly, but it was a style that I didn't appreciate.

[Nathan Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS. BOOK. IS. HILARIOUS!!!

So many good tie-ins with basically any classic fairytale you can think of. There were even some I didn't recognize!

The pictures are very well-drawn and help to move the story along.

Great for children and older kids as well.

[Samantha Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely hilarious. My inner child was seriously brought out in reading this book. It made me smile and giggle throughout the book. The way that they incorporated multiple nursery rhymes in a story where Humpty Dumpty has had enough!

[The Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A boy is a bit embarrassed when his father comes to his class to read the kids a story. The story starts out very dull until the teacher leaves the room and the dad really gets into it and changes Humpty Dumpty in a town-bashing monster.

Very fun illustrations.

[Jazmyne Henry]

This book is the classic fairy tale of Humpty Dumpty told in his point of view. This book can be used to teach students about perspectives and the different point of views.

[Tiffanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A children's book that I really found humorous!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this one a odd version and Humpty Dumpty but I saw it very interesting. I wouldn't read it again.

[jenna Hudrlik · Rating 3 out of 5]

clever idea, good pictures, but very long winded