Hey Diddle, Diddle by Matt Shanks/Scholastic

Title: Hey Diddle, Diddle

Author: Matt Shanks/Scholastic

Genre: Poetry/Nursery Rhymes

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st January 2022

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 16

Price: $18.99

Synopsis: Hey, diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon … Come and join these Australian animals as they put on a performance to remember!

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Aussie readers of a certain age – namely, those who watched Play School in the late eighties and early nineties – who amongst you remembers Noni Hazlehurst reciting nursery rhymes such as Hey Diddle, Diddle? Well, I do, and I remember those magical filled moments fondly. It’s a nursery rhyme that is short and sweet, and this was always the magical thing about this little poem for me. Now, I have a new edition from Scholastic Australia, and illustrated by Matt Shanks.

This mew edition starts with the version we all grew up with, and then adds several more stanzas, using a variation on diddle by changing the second letter of diddle to another vowel sound, and from there, the poem starts to include many other actions and Australian animals, using the same rhythm and rhyme pattern to tell a story through the song.  It is, of course, a nonsense poem, much like the work of Edward Lear. Yet this is what makes nursery rhymes and poems like these such fun. The more nonsensical they are, I think they have the potential to be more entertaining, and they still teach children about sounds, rhythm, and language through a fun poem.

The extension of the poem is a lot of fun and has a delightful narrative running through it that includes the original cat, dog, cow, dish, and spoon. Instead of it being a poem about animals and dishes doing odd things, it becomes a talent show and performance, whilst still maintaining the feeling of a nonsense poem throughout and is best read in a sing-song voice. That’s how I used to hear it on Play School from Noni, and it has always stayed with me. It will always be her voice that I associate with the poem. This new imagining is something that readers of all ages will enjoy, from those who knew it as a child to those just discovering it now.

I loved this new imagining of the poem, and hope that other readers get to enjoy it as well – kids and adults.