My Very first Mother Goose

My Very first Mother Goose

"What can be said about yet another Mother Goose book? Quite a lot in this case. The book is not a definitive Mother Goose, with familiar rhymes such as Old Mother Hubbard missing and less familiar ones included, and there are no footnotes or sources. But as a first Mother Goose, the book does its job superbly. Sixty-eight rhymes have been selected with parents, babies, and toddlers firmly in mind. The book is oversized yet perfect for lap holding, and the rhymes are attractively placed on each page and nicely placed throughout the book so as not to overwhelm parents and babies with too many images and too much black type. Central to the success of the book are Rosemary Wells's illustrations. The orange-gold cover shows Mother Goose as a large, white, cap-bedecked goose standing on a blue-checkered border that will attract parents and grandparents who may remember Blanche Fisher Wright's edition from their own childhoods. Riding on Mother Goose's back, however, are four of Wells's signature animals - a gray kitten, brown bear, black rabbit, and tiny tan mouse - looking hopefully at the viewer in invitation and anticipation. The checkered border is picked up throughout the book to provide a nice cohesion. The first rhyme is an appropriately familiar "Jack and Jill," and the final "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, / Hold my horse till I leap on," provides a quiet good night. Unlike some editions of Mother Goose that crowd many rhymes within the pages, these rhymes are leisurely paced. While some human characters appear, Well's lively animals are the most well delineated and appealing. A tiNy mouse under the Queen's chair sticks its tongue out at Pussycat; an elegant hog rides home from market in an open limousine. Throughout the book familiar characters reappear to connect the rhymes and give parents and babies more chances to interact with the pictures. We know that the interaction that takes place between parent and baby over the pages of a good book is a primary factor in literacy learning, and My Very First Mother Goose makes such important work pure joy."

Kiefer, Barbara. "My Very First Mother Goose." The Horn Book Magazine, Nov.-Dec. 1996, p. 752. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A18917267/AONE?u=lond95336&sid=AONE&xid=cc091498. Accessed 11 June 2018.

Edited by, Opie, Iona

Candlewick Press

1996

Wells, Rosemary (Illustrator)

Compiled text copyright © by Iona Opie, Illustrations copyright © 1996 by Rosemary Wells

Hardcover Book, 27.3 x 1.8 x 29.6 cm

English