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Mary Had a Little Lab
Albert Whitman has acquired Mary Had a Little Lab by Sue Fliess, a twist on the nursery rhyme in which Mary is an aspiring inventor who makes sheep in her lab. Petros Bouloubasis will illustrate; publication is slated for spring 2018.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 2018
About the author
Sue Fliess
66 books135 followersSue Fliess ("fleece") is the bestselling author of Robots, Robots Everywhere!, I'm a Ballerina! and How to Trap a Leprechaun, and more than 35 other children's books including Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket, Mrs. Claus Takes the Reins, Mary Had a Little Lab, Beatrice Bly's Rules for Spies, and many Little Golden Books. Her books have sold over 850,000 copies worldwide. Her background is in copywriting and PR/marketing, and her essays have appeared in O Magazine, HuffPo, Writer's Digest, and more. Fliess has also written for Walt Disney.
Her books have received honors from the SCBWI, have been used in school curricula, museum educational programs, and have even been translated into multiple languages. The Bug Book was chosen for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library three years in a row and The Hug Book was selected to the Imagination Library Australia.
She's a member of SCBWI, Children's Book Guild of DC, and the Author's Guild. She does book signings, school visits, and speaking engagements.
When she's not writing, she is walking her two silly English Labradors or busy with her two teen boys. She really misses traveling. Sue lives in Northern VA with her family. Visit her at www.suefliess.com.
Her books have received honors from the SCBWI, have been used in school curricula, museum educational programs, and have even been translated into multiple languages. The Bug Book was chosen for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library three years in a row and The Hug Book was selected to the Imagination Library Australia.
She's a member of SCBWI, Children's Book Guild of DC, and the Author's Guild. She does book signings, school visits, and speaking engagements.
When she's not writing, she is walking her two silly English Labradors or busy with her two teen boys. She really misses traveling. Sue lives in Northern VA with her family. Visit her at www.suefliess.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
May 10, 2022
A lot of people believe that the thrust of this book is to encourage young people (particularly girls) to get interested in science. All the cute illustrations cannot make a silk purse out of a sheep’s hair ball….sorry you would have to read the book to forgive my sense of humor. Mary can best be described as a proto-engineer, a tyro with more tactics than strategic thinking.
She wants to be liked by the kids at school and she hits upon a way she thinks that will get her that while also providing a new service to the community.
And this leads to a bevy of unintended consequences as her sheep-cloning equipment keeps on spitting out more sheep despite efforts to shut it down.
This book, by its illustrations is intended for a younger audience but the message isn’t clear. Is it:
Laugh at the funny things Mary does with her machine cloning sheep? Or,
This is the kind of thing you can do if you study science? Or,
This is how you win friends and influence people?
I will try it out on my little girls and see what their reaction is. I thing that will be a safe enough move --- unless they decide to turn our computer printer into a cloning machine!
My 5 year old was delighted with the illustrations by Petros Bouloubasis. When I asked her to summarize the story she said it was "silly." She said that if she was inventing a machine to make something, it wouldn't make sheep, it would make unicorns!
She wants to be liked by the kids at school and she hits upon a way she thinks that will get her that while also providing a new service to the community.
And this leads to a bevy of unintended consequences as her sheep-cloning equipment keeps on spitting out more sheep despite efforts to shut it down.
This book, by its illustrations is intended for a younger audience but the message isn’t clear. Is it:
Laugh at the funny things Mary does with her machine cloning sheep? Or,
This is the kind of thing you can do if you study science? Or,
This is how you win friends and influence people?
I will try it out on my little girls and see what their reaction is. I thing that will be a safe enough move --- unless they decide to turn our computer printer into a cloning machine!
My 5 year old was delighted with the illustrations by Petros Bouloubasis. When I asked her to summarize the story she said it was "silly." She said that if she was inventing a machine to make something, it wouldn't make sheep, it would make unicorns!
June 5, 2018
A STEM retelling of Mary Had a Little Lamb. Cute concept, but too text heavy. It's the kind of picture book that would appeal more to adults than to children, sort of like "Goodnight Lab!" Great illustrations though!
March 19, 2018
We really got to get these kids into cloning at a younger age!
July 11, 2018
This is such a great recreation of Mary Had a Little Lamb! The rhyming scheme holds up for the whole book, which is nice and not always a given. It makes for a very natural read aloud. I love that Mary is a little girl of color too!
March 14, 2018
Rhyming hilarity ensues when Mary makes a little lab and starts cloning sheep!
Good for preschool or older kid storytimes.
Good for preschool or older kid storytimes.
June 4, 2018
Great rhyming! This was such a cute story. I love that it is a girl scientist. I am going to have to plan a storytime just so that I can use this book!
May 11, 2018
Mary had a little lab...and was a fantastic inventor and scientist. But she was lonely, too, and wanted a pet to keep her company. After taking a sample of sheep's wool, she created a machine - the Sheepinator - that could manufacture just such a friend. Her sheep friend was a great help around the lab and a good companion. When Mary brought him to school, her classmates were super impressed and all expressed an interest in having Mary make them sheep, too. Mary did, but something went wrong with her machine and soon sheep were spewing out of it in great quantities. Mary and her classmates had to add wheels to the lab so they could round them all up and find them homes on farms. After they unjammed the Sheepinator, Mary re-purposed it to make use of the wool in another way. A funny take on the Mary Had a Little Lamb nursery rhyme, with a lovely little lady mad-scientist at the helm!
September 8, 2023
I know this can't really be true. Sue Fliess must have some purpose as an author besides annoying the heck out of me.
Be that as it may, what adventure awaits all of us in this picture book? Goodness gracious, this time, little Mary is cloning her very own sheep.
If this sounds cute to some of you Goodreaders, guess what? You could go for a ride in the country, in my state of Virginia and elsewhere, and see what looks like a herd of uncannily identical cows.
People who don't think that there's a price to be paid for cloning animals... Well, all of us will have to find out together, won't we?
Meanwhile, sure, FIVE STARS for an internally consistent, and cutely-woolly-decorated flight of fancy for young children.
The Mary in this book winds up with a pet and friends. Just no downside to her perky adventures in "Mary Had a Little Lab"! At least not in the imagination of the author.
Be that as it may, what adventure awaits all of us in this picture book? Goodness gracious, this time, little Mary is cloning her very own sheep.
If this sounds cute to some of you Goodreaders, guess what? You could go for a ride in the country, in my state of Virginia and elsewhere, and see what looks like a herd of uncannily identical cows.
People who don't think that there's a price to be paid for cloning animals... Well, all of us will have to find out together, won't we?
Meanwhile, sure, FIVE STARS for an internally consistent, and cutely-woolly-decorated flight of fancy for young children.
The Mary in this book winds up with a pet and friends. Just no downside to her perky adventures in "Mary Had a Little Lab"! At least not in the imagination of the author.
June 9, 2018
I think this is a cute book to use in the classroom for a few reasons. First, it is fun to know the poem and see how the rhyme has changed. That is great for Writers Workshop to remind students that taking a story and restyling it as your own is always an option. Second, I like this as a "woman" in science book and I could see it being fun to read along with Rosie Revere or some of the other books that show more girls in science as a natural state. The ending isn't my favorite, but that could be another reason to share the book, how might you change the ending, or what do you think about the ending and why do you like or dislike it? Some good discussions could come from one book.
April 6, 2022
I did not care for this.
I didn't like the initial reinforcement of inventors/scientists as "lonely," and I was uncomfortable with Mary "cloning" (duplicating, unspecified) sheep. 1) The moral implications of genetic engineering weren't addressed and 2) to reduce highly-trained geneticists' work to something a little girl could do at home is demeaning to actual scientists. The duplicating machine might as well be magic; it has all the realism of a Star Trek transporter. I am also uncomfortable by Mary winning (or buying) friends by giving them something--a sheep.
The rhymes are mostly forced, although there are a few cute homages to the original Mother Goose poem.
I didn't like the initial reinforcement of inventors/scientists as "lonely," and I was uncomfortable with Mary "cloning" (duplicating, unspecified) sheep. 1) The moral implications of genetic engineering weren't addressed and 2) to reduce highly-trained geneticists' work to something a little girl could do at home is demeaning to actual scientists. The duplicating machine might as well be magic; it has all the realism of a Star Trek transporter. I am also uncomfortable by Mary winning (or buying) friends by giving them something--a sheep.
The rhymes are mostly forced, although there are a few cute homages to the original Mother Goose poem.
May 9, 2018
Mary is a budding inventor who spends lots of time alone in her lab. Feeling lonely, she decides to create a pet. She invents a machine to clone a sheep for herself. When kids at school want sheep too, she begins cloning sheep for them as well. However, things go awry when the town becomes overrun with sheep and she must fix it. This retelling of the classic song "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is delightful and encourages girls to explore STEM activities. The illustrations are wonderful too. I really enjoyed it.
March 3, 2018
I like that it kept some classic Mary Had a Little Lamb lines throughout the story. A solid STEM picture book the likes of Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer. I wish that final ending page was of people wearing the clothes instead of the sheep. It would have given me the warm, fuzzy conclusion I was hoping for. Or the sheep giving them out to non-wooly animals? Just something with a bit more of that 'cherry on top' conclusion.
March 22, 2018
This is a twist on the original nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb. It is about a young girl named Mary who spends her days inventing products in her lab. She discovers that inventing is lonely and makes a pet sheep for herself. Her classmates ask Mary if she can make them sheep was well. She attempts to duplicate her experiment but it goes horribly wrong. This would be great at a STEM read aloud.
April 20, 2018
Mary spent all her time in a lab, but she didn't have a friend. So she went into the country and picked up a little wool to make her own pet. She took her lamb to school one day... and all the kids wanted one of their own. Mary made them all sheep and then more than the town could hold. Mary and her new friends turned her sheep multiplier into a knitting machine and used the wool to make sweaters, socks, and scarves.
July 15, 2018
Because she spends so much time in her lab, Mary doesn’t have any friends. So, she decides to clone a sheep. The sheep turns out to be a great pet, helping her with chores. And when the sheep follows her to school, she makes friends immediately. They all want sheep of their own, so Mary obliges. But the “wooly duplicator” of the Sheepinator jams and suddenly there are more sheep than Mary knows what to do with. But Mary’s a problem solver and she figures out just what she needs to do.
November 12, 2019
Mary is a scientist and wants to build herself a pet. She creates a machine, inserts sheep wool (rather than just adopting a sheep), and voila. Chaos occurs when she takes the sheep to school, the other kids fall in love and want one for themselves. There are touches of humor that reflect the original rhyme, but it kinda fell flat for us. It was short text, which is nice.
The title did have X guessing as to whether the lab was a dog.
The title did have X guessing as to whether the lab was a dog.
August 1, 2018
This is no 'Mary Had a little lamb' but does loosely follow the formula. Mary is so busy in her lab she realizes she has no friends to play with. But Mary finds something to slip into her machine to produce a pet that follows her and everyone else wants one, too. And this creates a big problem for Mary and the town. Read how Mary solved this problem.
August 6, 2018
Funny yet frightening tale of a lonely young science enthusiast who clone critters rather than stepping out of her lab to meet some people. When her Frankenstein creation threatens to destroy the community she does make some friends but sheesh! Just put down the beaker every now and then kid! Great rhymes to the familiar tune.
October 23, 2018
Fantastic rhyming story (loosely based on the classic nursery rhyme) about a young lady inventor who creates a machine, “The Sheepinator,” to make herself a new friend. When the machine jams and starts overproducing sheep, Mary comes up with another creative solution to herd her flock. Such a fun story to read aloud!
July 11, 2019
An OK book about a little genius girl who decides to clone sheep to have a friend. Along the way she gets friends (human ones) who like her and who also want a sheep (though they also want to help her out). Chaos ensues and I had a bit of a laugh at what kind of chaos was happening. I loved seeing new friends appear at the windows of the lab.
The art was pretty nice!
The art was pretty nice!
March 26, 2018
I love this rhyming tale of Mary creating her own lamb in the lab. This is a fun read aloud books with wonderful illustrations that will spark a child's imagination. I will definitely be adding a copy to my shelves at home.
June 6, 2018
Rhyming text shadows the original, but takes it in a new direction to encourage young girls to be problem-solving, creative explorers. A few phrases are a bit awkward, but it works overall.
Humorous illustrations invite reader to stop and examine the fun details.
Humorous illustrations invite reader to stop and examine the fun details.
June 19, 2018
Excellent book! Love how Mary solves her problems by experimenting, and plays nice with the other kids when they ask her for help. LOVE how all the kiddos work together to resolve the problem at the end of the book. Wonderful!
August 11, 2022
HILARIOUS.....and such a cute remake to Mary Had A Little Lamb......
My favorite Part, buffing the floors with the sheep!!! LOLOLOL I Love the science twist, and the "girl-power" theme that the book brought out. Would definitely love to purchase for my kids or classroom one day!!!
My favorite Part, buffing the floors with the sheep!!! LOLOLOL I Love the science twist, and the "girl-power" theme that the book brought out. Would definitely love to purchase for my kids or classroom one day!!!
July 29, 2023
Super cute! The rhythm stuck to the original nursery rhyme, and the story was cute. I think it's a bit long for a family storytime (tho possibly shortened), but it could make for a super fun classroom/school read aloud.
February 28, 2024
Mary is an enterprising young inventor. One day she realizes she has no friends, so she decides a pet will to the trick. I really enjoyed reading this book because it is inspiring young children to want to create things.
February 21, 2018
Such a clever spin on the old tale of Mary Had a Little Lamb. Loved the art and the story. So much fun!
February 23, 2018
So adorable! She's inventor that duplicates sheep and makes friends.
March 3, 2018
Fun fractured fairy tale that empowers girls, creative thinkers and "making" friends. Lol too!
March 3, 2018
I can totally see myself using this for a STEAM program. It has the traditional rhyming style of the original, but with a scientific twist. Such a cute and clever rendition.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews