The Story of Old King Cole

The Story of Old King Cole by Daphne Doward Hogstrom. Illustrated by Anne Sellers Leaf (US)
A Start-Right Elf Book

Finished: Feb. 1, 2010
First Published: 1975
Genre: children, picture book, easy reader
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;

Acquired: Bought and own a copy.

Reason for Reading: My son read aloud to me.

Comments: Here we start off with the traditional nursery rhyme but once the king has his fiddlers three he does not stop calling. Oh no, he keeps on calling for such things as pipers, his clerk named Clive, his clown,his band, his gold, his wizards, his Dukes and Dames and oh so much more as the King is preparing a ball for his Queen. Cute little story that also has a counting theme as after the fiddlers three, there are the pipers four then footmen five all the way up to tailors ten. Ds really enjoyed the story and when we were finished I had noticed something. There is a tiny ladybug hidden in each two page spread right from the title page, so we went back and searched for the bug on all the pages! Delightfully illustrated! Anne Sellers Leaf was a popular artist for Rand McNally's children's books and I'm very fond of her illustrations. I'll often pick up a book simply because of her illustrations.