Young MacDonald (review)

While the senior Mr. MacDonald and his farm are well known to most young audiences, they probably haven't encountered Young MacDonald, who uses the farm's animals for some interesting experiments in hybridization with the result of some strange barnyard noises in addition to the traditional e-i-e-i-o (here iconoclastically spelled out "ee-i-ee-i-o"). With his Rube Goldbergian machine, he makes a Hig (horse-pig), which gives an Oink-Neigh here and there; some Deese (donkeys-geese), which Hee-Honk; a Shicken (sheep-chicken), which goes Baak-Baa, and so on. Unfortunately, weird science takes its toll on the inventor by turning him into a Bog (boy-dog), with an Oops-Arf, just before his parents call him for dinner, whereupon he hurriedly sets everything to rights in time for everybody to join in on the pizza. While the combinations may provoke some logical questions (does MacDonald's creation of a Hig out of a horse's body and a pig's head mean that somewhere there's a Porse with a pig's body and horse's head?), this is classic early inversion humor; there's a bit of guessing-game pleasure involved, since the animal elements aren't separately named, and the chance to make some very strange noises will delight the readaloud audience. The trim lines add a dry humor to the exaggeratedly bulbous heads and roly-poly bodies of the farm's inhabitants; while compositions don't focus the action as well as they might, they imbue most spreads with a chaos suitable to the proceedings. Veterans of the classic version will relish this twisted take, and they may well enjoy coming up with their own portmanteau livestock.