The "Aunts" Come Marching

The aunts come marching one by one,
HURRAH! HURRAH!
The aunts come marching one by one,
HURRAH! HURRAH!
The aunts come marching one by one,
It's Dainty Dot with her big bass drum.
"To the guest room please," says Pop.
Up she hops with a THUMP
And a WHUMP
BUMP, BUMP, FLUMP.

Bill Richardson and Cynthia Nugent - what a perfect picture-book author/illustrator partnership!

Richardson's love of word play and his uninhibited imagination have resulted in a truly wacky take on the old chestnut "The Ants Go Marching" (In this case, it's an invasion of relatives rather than insects).

As successive groups of weirdly attired aunts come marching in, they produce a cacophony of sound that delights the children but drives their poor father into such a state that he sends the musical aunties one after the other up to the guest room.
Nationally acclaimed, award-winning artist Cynthia Nugent has created a parade of aunts in a truly mind and eye-boggling variety. They include piccolo Pat (in Egyptian costume) with sousaphone Sue (a horned and booted Viking), bare-midriffed and mini-skirted bagpipers, a clothesline hung with trombonists from the Wild West and finally ten musician aunts led by Auntie Gwen who is dressed in sumptuous Eastern-style purple attire replete with golden turned-up-toe slippers.

Paul and I were listing to CBC while having breakfast this morning. They were interviewing Mary Walsh who was brought up by her aunt rather tham her family. It went on to talk about the above book and how people in the Maritimes pronounce AUNT - ahnt and those west of us prononce AUNT like the insect ant.

I thought Peter might like this for the boys and Emma might like it when dealing with children.