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Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes

Mother Goose rhymes were not always intended primarily for children. No one knows who the old woman with the unfortunate moniker was (or wasn't), but we do know the doggerel verse attributed to her surfaced sometime in the 17th century in England and France, and that the early versions were meant specifically to criticize or mock public figures.

Our versions are much more tame, yet they retain enough bite to stun even cynical modern readers, even children addicted to the overly-violent swill that passes for cartoons these days. Old men being thrown downstairs by the leg for shady bedroom infractions? A ladybug losing all her progeny to a ghastly fire? It's not exactly Disney, and it's not exactly the gentle fare we've come to associate with children's poetry.

Maybe we're making Mother Goose nursery rhymes sound worse than they actually are. At the same time, there's nothing wrong with kids' books being more edgy than Spot the Dog or Dick and Jane. The world isn't the quiet, calm place of 1950s suburban fantasy, and it's a bit of a disservice to present it as such to our children. Not that we need to terrify or horrify them, but just a small dose of pizzazz shouldn't be altogether abandoned.

These rhymes and short poems come in perfect measure. Some are merely lighthearted, others quite dark, some simply nonsense. While there are whole books showing the historical origins of the Mother Goose canon, you don't need that (often arcane) knowledge to enjoy them. And while few would try to defend any of them as high art, the older nursery rhymes do evidence a remarkably astute attention to meter and rhythm on the part of their composers.

The artwork for such books is often quite compelling as well, featuring colorful illustrations that present a somewhat shocking humorous mirror of the world as we know it. This is perhaps what nursery rhymes are best suited for, after all—showing us how things would be if chaos ruled, and making us very thankful it does not.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes
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Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose
by Arnold Lobel
from Random House
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes
by Selected and Edited by Robert Wyndham, Illustrated by Ed Young
from Philomel Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Complete Mother Goose
by Ethel F. Betts
1st edition from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Complete Mother Goose
by Ethel F. Betts
from Longmeadow Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Higglety Pigglety Pop!
by Maurice Sendak
from Harper & Row
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Jaha and Jamil Went Down the Hill
by Virginia Kroll & Katherine Roundtree
from Charlesbridge
for 1st-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose
by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Derrydale Books
for Nursery-1st grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes
by Kate Greenaway
from Gramercy Books
for Nursery-Preschool
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Marguerite de Angeli's Book of Nursery and Mother Goose Rhymes
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Doubleday & Company
for Nursery-2nd grade
1955 Caldecott Honor Book
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (6 in stock)
Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose
by Mary Engelbreit
from HarperCollins
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Michael Hague's Mother Goose
by Michael Hague
Reissue from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Michael Hague's Mother Goose
by Michael Hague
Reissue from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Mother Goose
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Weathervane Books
for Nursery-Kindergarten
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose
by Gyo Fujikawa
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (2 in stock)
Mother Goose - The Classic Volland Edition
by Eulalie Osgood Grover, illustrated by Frederick Richardson
from Derrydale Books
for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose - The Original Volland Edition
by Eulalie Osgood Grover, illustrated by Frederick Richardson
from Derrydale Books
for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
by Arthur Rackham (illustrator)
from Viking Press
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$7.20 (2 in stock)
Mother Goose on the Loose
by Hans Wilhelm (illustrator)
2009 Edition from Sterling Publishing Co.
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$2.80 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose Picture Book
Calla Edition
by Berta & Elmer Hader
from Dover Publications
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Mother Goose Rhymes
by Watty Piper, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose Rhymes
by Watty Piper, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes
by Walter Jerrold, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Candlewick Press
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$5.60 (2 in stock)
My Very First Mother Goose
by Iona Opie
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$3.60 (1 in stock)
Original Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Running Press
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes
by Peter & Iona Opie, illustrated by Pauline D. Baynes
from Puffin Books
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Scholastic Inc.
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$8.46 $4.80 (2 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Barnes & Noble
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright, illustrator
from Rand McNally
Rhyming Books for Preschool-Kindergarten
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.80 (2 in stock)
Real Mother Goose
by Blanche Fisher Wright
for 1st-3rd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.80 (2 in stock)
Rhymes & Reasons
by James C. Christensen
from Greenwich Workshop Press
for Preschool-Adult
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever
by Richard Scarry
50th Anniversary Edition from Golden Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$14.44 $7.20 (1 in stock)
Ring o' Roses
from Living Book Press
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$10.19
Space Child's Mother Goose
by Frederick Winsor, illustrated by Marian Parry
from Purple House Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$11.86
Tail Feathers from Mother Goose
by Iona Opie, Peter Opie
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Clearance: Picture Books (Location: ZCLE-PIC)
Tall Book of Mother Goose
by Feodor Rojankovsky
from Harper & Brothers
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Tall Book of Nursery Tales
by Aleksey Ivanov, Olga Ivanov, adapted by Raina Moore
from HarperFestival
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Teddy Bears' Mother Goose
by Michael Hague
1st edition from Henry Holt and Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
Three Jovial Huntsmen
by Susan Jeffers
from Macmillan
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose
by Tomie DePaola
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for Nursery
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Treasury of Mother Goose
by Hilda Offfen (Illustrator)
from Simon and Schuster
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$15.29 $9.60 (1 in stock)
Wendy Watson's Mother Goose
by Wendy Watson (illustrator)
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Mother Goose & Nursery Rhymes (Location: PIC-MG)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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