Humpty Dumpty used to love to climb-but after his infamous fall, his confidence is shattered. Nowadays, he mopes around his house and watches television in his underwear. Whenever All the King's Horses and All the King's Men pass by, they chant, "Humpty Dumpty / Sits in a chair, / He used to climb rocks- / Today he won't dare." How will Humpty ever summon the courage to climb again? Full-color art, done in black pencil and charcoal on newsprint; color was digitally added.
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Most children can tell you what happened to Humpty after his fall: “All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men / Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” In this version of Humpty’s ordeal, however, one of the King’s Horses has “the good sense to call a Doctor,” who gets Humpty back on his feet—physically, if not psychologically. So, what was originally a story about a rather clumsy egg’s demise becomes something much more contemporary and kid-friendly: a story about falling down and learning to get back up again.
While Humpty, a seasoned climber, responds to his fall with a brief spell of the blues, Horowitz keeps the mood light and buoyant with various cameos from other nursery rhyme characters. Witty dialogue and lively drawings add to the fun, ensuring that the story never becomes too bleak or pedantic. Kids and adults will find something to giggle about on every page as Humpty learns to believe in himself and, in the end, finds his footing by climbing once again.
A doctor patches Humpty up, cautioning him to be more careful. He gives up rock-climbing but gets the blues just sitting around. Eventually, he's enticed to climb once again. This tongue-in-cheek treatment features characters from other nursery rhymes that children will recognize with delight. The silly fun of the text is aptly echoed in the cartoony drawings.