But if They Do

Reviewed: March 12, 2004
By: text by Bill Richardson / illustrations by Marc Mongeau
Publisher: Annick Press
24 pages, $8.95

In some versions this little rhyme goes on to list a whole bunch of playfully gruesome things that might happen to the bugs. Bill Richardson has taken the idea and written his own ending to the original rhyme. Then, Richardson has added three more scenarios, featuring ghouls, monsters and vampires, finishing off with quietly triumphant verse about going to sleep.

Marc Mongeau's contribution to all this silliness is found in the phantasmically comical watercolour illustrations.

You might expect a former children's librarian like Richardson to have been triggered by a kids' book, but his end notes indicate that this book came from one of those quirky little contests that are so much a part of The Roundup. This one provided the host with a bonus in terms of a story idea.

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