Anxious prisoner after anxious prisoner echoes and embellishes this cry, but always in vain. The fiery old Judge, impatient with such foolish nonsense, calls them scoundrels, ninnyhammers, and throws them all in jail. But in the end, Justice is done--and the Judge is gone. Head first! Harve Zemach's cumulative verse tale is so infectious that children won't be able to avoid memorizing it. And Margot Zemach's hilarious pictures are brimming with vitality as well as color.

Caldecott Honor book, 1970.