Flashback Friday – What Really Happened to Humpty? by Joe Dumpty as told to Jeanie Franz Ransom
From The Files of a Hard-Boiled Detective
Booklist “Starred Review”
Winner of the 2011 “Children’s Choice” Award for the state of New Mexico
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a huge egg fan, see. They can be real smooth at times, make you think they’re one thing, when they’re really another. I like that in an egg. Hard-boiled, sunny-side up, over-easy, scrambled, but my all time favorite is the Humpty-Dumpty kind, especially served up fresh in a Film Noir or Dragnet-style kind-of way.
First reviewed in 2009, today we’re revisiting What Really Happened To Humpty? by Joe Dumpty as told to Jeanie Franz Ransom (Charlesbridge, paperback $7.95, Ages 6-9) with illustrations by Stephen Axelsen. The tale, recounted tongue-in-cheek (can you say that for an egg story?) by Humpty’s hard-boiled detective brother Joe, opens like this:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Now if that hasn’t got you itchin’ (you’re not allergic to eggs, are you?) to find out more … This clever, easy-to-read book simply cracked me up with its puns, plot and pictures. The mystery revolves around poor pushed Humpty, a pair of binoculars and a big wind. Readers’ appetites for a good, hearty romp around Mother Gooseland is whet by some well known personalities from childhood. The cast of possible culprits includes the Muffin Man, Old Mother Hubbard, Little Miss Muffet or Muffy, Spider, Goldie (as in Locks) and Chicken Little.
I really can’t tell much more without giving away all the good gags, but suffice it to say that its ending will leave readers satisfied. Kids will be happy that Humpty survives intact and his brother Joe, now vindicated for having solved the crime, can move on to new, more pressing business like helping Bo Peep find those missing sheep.
Click here to preview the book.
– Reviewed by Ronna Mandel