"Wise old man, won't you help me, please? My house is a squash and squeeze." What can you do if your house is too small? The wise old man knows: bring in a flappy, scratchy, noisy crowd of farmyard animals. When you push them all out again, you'll be amazed at how big your house feels!

This brilliantly funny story is the first ever picture book written and illustrated by the award-winning team of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, authors of The Gruffalo.

Reviews

"In this traditional tale, adapted and retold in verse, a little old woman complains to a wise old man that, ``My house is a squash and a squeeze,'' even though she is the sole resident. The thoughtful man tells her to take in, in turn, her hen, goat, pig, and finally her cow. Of course the house seems gigantic when the temporary boarders are put out. Clever caricatures of characters accentuate the humorous situation. Just a curl of a lip or the ideal placement of the dot in the white eyeball make them whimsical, pensive, dismayed, serene, or horrified. Pen-and-ink outlined with bright watercolor washes are set against a white background. It seems that light is shining through the pages. Best of all is the language; the refrain reverberates even after the story is over." Nancy Seiner, School Library Journal

"You may not think you need yet another version of the tale about someone realizing that her house is actually big enough to accommodate a whole slew of animals, after crowding them in--one by one--on the advice of a wise man (he looks as much like a vicar as a rabbi here). But this variant has two things to recommend it: Donaldson's merrily lilting text (``The little old lady cried, `Stop, I implore!/It was cramp-y for three and it's teeny for four./Even the pig in the cupboard agrees/my house is a squash and a squeeze' ''); and Scheffler's vigorously limned cartoon-style illustrations, explicating and elaborating the ludicrous events line by line. ...a worthy addition. (Picture book. 3-8)" Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography

Julia Donaldson is one of the UK's most successful picture book authors, whose titles regularly appear at the top of bestseller lists -- most notably, the acknowledged modern classic, The Gruffalo (0 333 71093 2). Her other picture books in collaboration with Axel Scheffler include Room On The Broom (0 333 90338 2) and The Smartest Giant In Town (0 333 96144 7). Julia is also much in demand for her brilliant events for children at schools, libraries and literary festivals. Axel Scheffler has achieved worldwide acclaim for his illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 20 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson, but is also the best-selling illustrator of novelty books including The Bedtime Bear (0 333 63788 7) and The Tickle Book (0 333 78151 5).