Hey Diddle Diddle

This book is my version of the Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme. Obviously I didn’t write the words, I’ve used the traditional ones, although I’ve taken some liberties with their layout and pace, and used repetition quite liberally.  Through doing that and through the illustrations, I’ve made it mine. The publisher, Walker Books, has chosen to go with the phrase ‘re-imagined by Judy Horacek’ which is a pretty good verb to use.

The ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ rhyme has long had a fascination for me because it’s decidedly odd. Who are these characters? A very specific but quite random group.  What brings them together and why? What are they doing with this jumping, laughing and running away?  I wanted to make the rhyme make some kind of sense.  A cat and a fiddle, what’s going on there? I  kept puzzling over it, saying it in my head, trying out different things until I came up with a visual narrative that told a proper story. I haven’t explained away everything – how rockery becomes sentient and ambulant is still a mystery, and probably always will be.

I know that a lot of nursery rhymes have origins in real historical events – ‘Ring a ring a rosie’ is apparently about the plague for example, ‘we all fall down’  being people dying.  But the only  info I could find for ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’  is that the line about the cow jumping over the moon refers to the cow jumping over the reflection of the moon in a river or a pond. As if that explains anything much about the cow’s motivations or consequences, and what do the other characters have to do with this feat of bovine athleticism?

My version of Hey Diddle Diddle makes the little dog the main character, present from the first page to the final one (and pretty cute if I do say so mayself). The cow appears of course, plus the cat, the dish and the spoon, but there’s quite a few other characters joining in.  I loved creating it – you can imagine me ‘laughing to see such fun!’

Hey Diddle Diddle reimagined by Judy Horacek will be available in bookshops in Australia in early October 2024. It’s a gorgeous looking book, with gloss varnish on elements of the cover and even some embossing, Walker has really gone all out to make it special and I’m delighted!

Hey Diddle Diddle reimagined by Judy Horacek on Walker Books’ website here.