The swapping boy.

by Langstaff

A singable picture book

Genres: Picture Books, Music

Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Langstaff's The Swapping Boy, his rhythmically engaging folksong adaptation of a foolish boy (or perhaps more a teenager, as he is, in fact, originally on his way to find himself a wife), who keeps trading his worldly possessions for increasingly smaller and less useful objects (ending up with a mole that of course immediately escapes into his tiny mole hole, and indeed, a rhyming pun definitely is intended here), is fun, silly, rollicking and according to the informative, enlightening introduction, has its roots in England (going back something like five hundred or more years). And yes, I do much appreciate that Langstaff has chosen different stanzas and verses from the versions of the swapping boy song he has always liked best for his own so brilliant adaptation (and that he actually mentions this, that he readily acknowledges this fact), and that for the included musical score, has also presented his own personal favourite (and the one that was sung in Langstaff's own family when he was a boy). Accompanied by, graced with, Beth and Joe Krush's delightfully expressive, active and often simply hilarious illustrations, The Swapping Boy presents a sweet and in all ways successful and delightful marriage of text and image (and I do so wish it were more widely known, more universally popular, and thus more readily and easily available for purchase). Four well deserved stars (and the only reason I have decided against five stars for The Swapping Boy is that while I absolutely do both love and heart-fully appreciate the presented author's introduction, I am missing, or rather I would really want to also see a bit of a bibliography and suggestions for further reading and folkloric research).