And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon by Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens Crummel

Almost everyone knows the nursery rhyme "Hey diddle, diddle/the cat in the fiddle/the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such sport/and the dish ran away with the spoon. But what would happen if the dish and spoon never came back? This fanciful tale takes the reader beyond the nursery rhyme and examines what would happen if the dish and spoon really did run away together! The cow, dog, and cat (who is actually quite grumpy when he's not playing the fiddle) are afraid that their rhyme will end if the dish and spoon never come back. So they begin to search for the wayward spoon and dish and quickly find themselves meeting all sorts of other fairy tail and nursery rhyme friends. Some of the characters they encounter on their search include Little Boy Blue, the spider from Little Miss Muffit, and the Big Bad Wold from the Three Little Pigs. After a few misadventures they finally find the dish and the spoon climbing up Jack's bean stalk. The dish is broken in a nasty fall and his friends take him to a repair shop to be fixed. Finally, all of the friends are back together again and the nursery rhyme can continue! It's a really fun book to use with older children who can appreciate the unexpected twists and turns of this whimsy filled story. Where to Buy: Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens Crummel are popular and prolific children's authors so their books are widely available through children's book sellers. You can also find their books through many different on line retailers.