Book Descriptions
for Dimity Dumpty by Bob Graham
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Bob Graham gives an old nursery rhyme a wholly unexpected new twist in this tale that offers a hilarious back story and surprising conclusion to the famous tumble of an egg named Humpty. The Dumpty family lives with the circus, where mom, dad, and son Humpty perform nightly on the flying trapeze as the Tumbling Dumpties. Youngest family member Dimity willingly forgoes the bright lights and roar of the crowd for moments of quieter repose with her little silver flute. Humpty, meanwhile, spends his time out of the spotlight creating a name for himself in a different way—graffiti. He’d just finished spraying “Humpty Rules” with an old can of paint on a factory wall when he slipped. On the other side of the circus Dimity feels—deep within her shell—that something is very wrong. When no one hears her pleas to help Humpty, the shy egg takes it upon herself to do the very thing she hates the most. Resolutely placing herself center stage, she draws attention to Humpty’s plight with a boldness she never knew she had in an entertaining story about a very good egg indeed. Graham’s already funny premise is heightened further by an abundance of visual humor, not the least of which is the Dumpty family’s cozy egg-carton camper. (Ages 5–9)
CCBC Choices 2008. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2008. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
Humpty Dumpty's little sister is too shy to be part of her family's circus act, but she finds courage when her brother needs her help. What happened to Humpty Dumpty is the stuff of legend. But how many know of his brave little sister? While the Tumbling Dumpties, the family traveling circus troupe, is doing acts of spectacular daring, Dimity stays far from the spotlight, playing tunes on her tiny flute. But when Humpty falls off the wall where he's writing graffiti, it's Dimity who finds her voice and brings help that even the king's soldiers can't provide. With a wealth of humorous visual details - the egg-carton caravan drawn by a chicken, the bandaging of Humpty's "leakage" after his fall.
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.