There once was an old dame who was …. Whale, no spoilers
Okay, a few spoilers. Whale, That Was Unexpeted by Casey Lyall combines the House that Jack Built, There Was an Old Woman, Moby Dick and Pinocchio all into a fairly new story. There is much in the way of familiarity to the story (we have a whale, we have impossible swallowing by said whale, rhyme, and a goat). But there is something new as well (there is a dog, sea lion, a trusty little boat, and a crab).
The story moves medium-well done. There is a slow build up, the repetition of the build up of things added to the menagerie of characters, then a fairly solid ending. You know you are done with this meal, but there is more to come the next time around. And this is accompanied by a lovely side dish of illustrations by Kathryn Durst. The cover only gives you a peek into things. Granted, things are minimal, but not lacking. You need to look at the detailed images presented (such as there is a sandwich with an odd candle in it; Claude the dog’s antics). There is a lot of cleverness going on and you need to take your time with reading text and art. 
Overall, things are cartoonish, I could see this as a Pixar short, or something equal to an “inbetween” the main courses. The form of a give and take of the Narrator and the main character, Maude, adds to this and gives it a bit of adult humor in the dry wit given.
Due late June/early July 2026; read via an online reader copy.
