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love it , love it , love it.has beautiful color pictureswhat a classic.Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses
My 18 month old loves this book. We have read it to her since she was an infant but she really started getting interested in it after a year. She looks at this book nearly everyday and loves to hear the nursery rhymes read to her. This is an excellent book.
PLUSES: Endearing large illustrations feature animals acting like people. Several illustrations offset the "politically incorrect" aspects of the corresponding rhymes (e.g., for "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater" a squirrel couple serves pie to a boy in front of their pumpkin house). For example, "There was a crooked man" has many small illustrations for the rhyme, while the text of "Pop goes the weasel" is contained within the large illustration. MINUSES: Because only the first 1-4 verses from each rhyme is given, "Old Mother Hubbard" is missing a lot of verses. First published 1964. Published 1996.
Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "The cat sat asleep by the side of the fire"). My favorites include "Jack Be Nimble" with Jack as a grasshopper, and "Simple Simon" as a monkey and the pieman as a gorilla. MINUSES: Has some rhymes and illustrations that could be considered sexist (e.g., "When I was a bachelor" and "I had a little hen") or violent (e.g., "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum" and "Taffy Was a Welshman"). Some pages (22, 28, 69, 76, 90, 93, 112, 117) have two rhymes on them, which might be slightly confusing, but on the other hand it might also be fun for kids to guess the relationship between the two rhymes on a page (e.g., "Red sky at night" and "Touch blue" both deal with colors).
It has the smallest page size (8.5"x11") of the books reviewed here. Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Three Little Ghostesses" and "Terrence McDiddler"). A number of illustrations depict black and Asian children. PLUSES: Illustrations (oil paintings) are large, detailed, varied, and fanciful; think a combination of Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, and Salvador Dali. Published 2007. such as "Little Polly Flinders" (in which a mother "whipped her little daughter") and "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-Eater" (picturing a woman stuck inside a pumpkin). Typography and illustrations (almost all of which depict people as opposed to animals acting like people) are either "nostalgic" (if you like them) or "old-fashioned" (if you don't).
I found no violent rhymes. SUMMARY: 4 stars.Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose by Scott Gustafson, ISBN 978-0867130973 -- 45 rhymes. Mason bought a basin"). The large majority of the illustrations feature animals acting like people. SUMMARY: 5 stars.The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fisher Wright, ISBN 0590225170 -- 305 rhymes.
If you're reading this on Amazon, you probably want to know how this book compares with other large-format Mother Goose nursery rhyme books. As another example, "Three Little Kittens" shows the kittens in large mittens on a clothesline, while the rhyme calls on them to be losing and putting on the mittens. PLUSES: Probably the most well-known, "classic" collection. First published 1916. SUMMARY: 5 stars.My Very First Mother Goose by Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells, ISBN 1564026205 -- 68 rhymes. MINUSES: Some illustrations may be confusing; for example, "Humpty Dumpty" is an actual (from-the-chicken) small egg that gets knocked to the ground, not a "living character" as in other books. PLUSES: Interplay of text and engaging watercolor illustrations is more creative than in any other book reviewed here.
Some illustrations depict black and Asian children. MINUSES: Some illustrations do not fit the rhymes well. Non-Christians may question the inclusion of two "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John" rhymes toward the end. PLUSES: If you like Engelbreit's artistic style, this book is for you. Includes uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Comical Folk") and longer rhymes (e.g., "This is the House that Jack Built") not in the other books. With the smallest selection of rhymes of the books reviewed here, it may not have some that your child may like (e.g., "Three Little Kittens").
SUMMARY: 4 stars.Buy any or all of these books from Amazon.com. Multiple rhymes on each page could be confusing to young readers. Here's my comparison of this book with four others.This book (Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses, ISBN 0060081716) -- Published 2005. MINUSES: I compared the current (1994 Scholastic/Cartwheel Books) printing with a previous (1991 Checkerboard Press) printing, and the color in the illustrations is less saturated than before. Has some rhymes and illustrations that could be considered "politically incorrect" (violent, sexist, etc).
Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Mrs. Extra information -- like tiny illustrations for cake-making under the main "Pat-a-cake" illustration, and four constellations' names for "Star light, star bright" -- add to the variety.
I found no sexist or violent rhymes. As one example, Jack Sprat's wife appears to have some "lean" vegetables and fruits on her side of the table (though certainly a much larger quantity of food than Jack himself).
The use of pigs is especially nice (e.g., a clothed pig stealing a gingerbread pig for "Tom, Tom, the piper's son" and Georgie Porgie as a boy pig "snouting" a girl pig). Organized into four chapters ("Jack and Jill," "Hey Diddle, Diddle," "Little Jumping Joan," and "The Moon Sees Me"), although I couldn't figure out why certain rhymes fell into certain chapters.
Font sizes vary considerably, from very large to moderately small, and the large initial letters of many rhymes are painted with something relevant to the rhyme (e.g., train tracks for "From Wibbleton to Wobbleton"). SUMMARY: 4 stars.Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever (Giant Little Golden Book), ISBN 0307155781 -- 50 rhymes.
There is a certain monotony to the illustrations, and all of them follow their rhymes fairly literally, so I'm not sure they would hold older children's attention well.
My daughter absolutely loves it. She loves to look at all the illustrations a little longer. The illustrations in the book are absolutely adorable, makes me admire them as well, takes me back to my young age. She is 2 and half years old, so makes me read the rhymes and sings along with me. I love it as well.Also would like to add, that the book review from the seller mentioned it being used. But the book as good as new.
Wonderful keepsake Mother Goose book to add to your collection to share with your children or students.
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