Teri Sloat: This Is the House That Was Tidy & Neat.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)

Horn Book Magazine, The, May, 2005 by Flynn, Kitty

Teri Sloat This Is the House That Was Tidy & Neat; illus. by R. W. Alley 32 pp. Holt 5/05 ISBN 0-8050-6921-6 $16.95 g (Preschool, Primary) In Sloat's rolling cumulative verse, a proper Edwardian household ends up in bedlam when Mom goes downtown. The trouble starts as soon as the nanny heads upstairs and a brother and sister head for the cookie jar.

In traditional fashion, the cookie crumbs attract a mouse, the cat chases the mouse, and by the time the dog ("Who stands dripping wet / Outside the back door, / Just waiting to get / The cat ...") becomes involved, the house is a disaster. Matching the rhyming text's pace and extending the humor, Alley's detailed illustrations, with their strong vertical lines and effective use of white space, convey the...