Mother Mother I Feel Sick Send For the Doctor Quick Quick Quick

Mother Mother I Feel Sick Send for the Doctor Quick Quick Quick
Remy Charlip and Burton Supree
Parent's Magazine Press, 1966

Saw a puppet show last week by the amazing Paul Mesner out of Kansas City and was really blown away by his adaptation of Jules Feiffer's adorable Daddy Mountain. It was quite possibly one of the best moments I've seen on stage for children, like, ever. It was followed by a nice but not quite as brilliant rendering of Feiffer's Bark, George... which, by the way, I haven't read in a long time, and as I was watching it, the story started to haunt me as one I'd heard before, but in a different context. It wasn't until this morning that it came to me. There was a bookshelf scramble and several frustrating minutes of rooting through my son's paperback baskets until I came up with this, a book (that was lovingly reissued and partially reillustrated by Charlip himself in 2004 by Tricycle Press) with the same sort of YOU ATE WHAT? theme. Though the reissue is very cool, I ,for one, love the original. But, I'm old school like that.

So there's this little boy see, and he has quite the tummy ache...

Doctor, Doctor, hurry, hurry!
I'll come right over. Don't you worry.
I've got lotions and potions
and powders and pills.
I've got all kinds of tonics for all kinds of ills.

Well, when the doctor starts rooting around in the little boy's belly, he comes across all sorts of things: some apples, a birthday cake, a flounder, a tree with a bird in it, and so on and so on... It's a great story and very similar to Bark, George except there is no quacking or oinking or mooing. What I particularly love about this title is the instruction page at the beginning that tells you how to stage the book as a shadow puppet play. No need to wonder what the boy and I will be doing this evening. Now if I can just find a white sheet. Anyone, anyone?

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What good luck! What bad luck!
The Dead Bird