School Library Journal Starred Review (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

Gr 2-4 Full of puns, this restructuring of the "Bremen Town Musicians" is clever, well executed, and loaded with laughs. O'Malley's expressive black-line illustrations over deep-hued colors bring the large images of the animals and robbers up-front on the page, increasing the interaction with his audience and enhancing the humor. Hen, after being told she will be chicken dinner on "Fry-day," runs away from the farm determined to fulfill her long-hoped-for plan to open a comedy club. Along the road, she recruits Dog, Cat, and Cow, who all have similar dreams as well as a flair for witticisms and bad jokes. That night, tired and hungry, the foursome take over an old house after the robbers inside leave to pull off a job. After gobbling down the leftover food and sharing numerous one-liners, the trespassers fall asleep. When the robbers return, the confrontation is hilarious: while shouting out gags to one another, the animals do enough barking, mewing, hissing, and bawling to send the men flying off into the night. Victorious, the four comedians now shine nightly at the Cow-Dog Kit-Hen Club where animals come from far and near to hear such groaners as, "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? He didn't have the guts!" Purchase and enjoykids will crack up. Barbara Elleman, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA

ALA Booklist (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

This adaptation of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" will provoke both groans and guffaws. Determined to be a comedian, Hen escapes from her farm and is soon joined in her journey by a dog, a cat, and a cow, all united in their dream to open a comedy club. On the road, they encounter a group of robbers hiding out in an old house, and faced with an audience, the animals instinctually launch into their routines. The bad guys, though, hear only frightening moos and barks instead of comedic shtick and flee, leaving behind their house e perfect spot for the animals to realize their club aspirations. The nonstop comedic wordplay and puns are even more hilarious than those in O'Malley's Gimme Cracked Corn & I Will Share (2007), with which this shares not only a funny bone but also a distinctive, attractive style of watercolor, ink, and PhotoShop art. With a high joke-per-page ratio, this is, as Hen would say, an "udderly" "egg-straordinary" "bawk."

Kirkus Reviews

"The Brementown Musicians" is a wonderful bit of cleverness captured by the Brothers Grimm. Here O'Malley takes the folktale for a contemporary spin and has a high time with it. He follows the main architecture of the tale while ramping up the comedy. The animals aren't just worn out, they're ne'er-do-wells: The cat is no good at "claw enforcement," the dog all bark and no bite, the chicken too pooped from her stand-up routine to lay eggs and the cow (instead of the donkey) has forgotten how to produce milk (call it "Milk of Amnesia"). The one-liners and zingers might have been heard in the Catskills resorts 50 years ago: "The farmer I worked for was so dumb, he plowed his field with a steamroller because he wanted mashed potatoes." The author's customarily meticulous artwork is particularly appealing and a good counterpoint to the story, tamping the brightness of the wordplay with illustrations that are moody with shadow, somewhere in look between an etching and a woodcut, though with fine line work that makes the characters immediate rather than dreamy. (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Inveterate punster O'Malley (Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share) retells ""The Brementown Musicians"" in this story of four animals who dream of opening a comedy club. A ""comedi-hen"" who is ""tired of working for chicken feed"" escapes when a farmer threatens to cook her on ""Fry-day."" She meets Dog, whose jokes make him ""all bark and no bite,"" and Cat, too busy singing silly carols (""I saw Mommy hiss at Santa Claus"") to chase mice. Rounding out the quartet is an ""udderly miserable"" Cow, ""in a real stew"" for preferring wisecracking to milk production. The wits foil a heist by meowing and growling their best material, then turn the robbers' abandoned house into a standup hotspot. O'Malley tells the story in expository panels and adds he-said-she-said gags in voice bubble asides. His line drawings, in shadowy black ink with digitally added hues of murky green, brown, and moonlit yellow-white, evoke a late-night setting. The barnyard banter should amuse grade-schoolers, even if the humor isn't farm fresh. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Mar.)