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Old Mr. Mackle Hackle

by Gunnar Madsen

      It's a mighty difficult thing to come up with an original way of presenting the idea that sometimes people need to be left alone. You could wrack your brain for months, postulating different ways of making such a message palatable to young children. In this, author Gunnar Madsen has a bit of an advantage. Taking the title song from his previous music cd hit, Old Mr. Mackle Hackle, Madsen has deftly reworked the song into a joyous picture book in the style of the late Dr. Seuss. In this tale, Old Mr. Mackle Hackle owns a large assortment of brightly colored chickens. But, as the text is quick to point out, one of these hens refuses to cackle. This is a bit much for Old Mr. Mackle Hackle, who quickly sets about taking the chicken to everything from a doctor to a psychic. Eventually, he tries to get the job done himself by reading a variety of hen-based jokes. The hen revolts against such treatment and begs for just a little peace and quiet. And, as it soon becomes clear, obviously the hen had the ability to cackle all along. She simply didn't feel like doing it when Old Mr. Mackle Cackle insisted. By the end, the hen and her brood are cackling up a storm and Old Mr. Mackle Cackle appears to be seriously reconsidering his previous insistence that they do so. Mr. Madsen's work is bright and bouncy with just the kind of upbeat, rhythmic quality a book like this requires.

       Illustrator Irana Shepherd has coupled this tale with a series of bright silly pictures in fluid acrylics. Kids reading the tale will be amused by the various chicken-based details found in the backgrounds of certain pictures (example: The doctor appears to have four drawers worth of wings, brains, beaks, and feet). Adults will not object to reading the tale over and over again. Altogether a successful translation from tune to book. I only regret that a cd of the original song was not included as well.

The Book

Little, Brown / TimeWarner
April 6, 2005
Hardcover
0316734527
Children's Picture Book [Age: 4-8]
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Elizabeth Bird
Reviewed 2005
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© 2005 MyShelf.com