Customer Reviews

One Potato, Two Potato

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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One Potato, Two Potato is the story of children's games, chants, jump-rope rhymes, and school yard folklore. I first encountered this book when I was in college (about 20 years ago), and was enchanted with the amount of research done for this work. I was also amazed at the memories it brought back, and the sheer amount of "stuff" I have forgotten over the years. Reading it again brings back memories of both times, college and childhood.

Oops! Whoever assigned the reading level to this book was confused. This is a book for adults on the history and meaning of children's folklore. I first read it for a class I took on multicultural education, and now use it sometimes in a college course I teach on play. It's fascinating and brings back a lot of childhood memories. It has words to rhymes I had forgotten and directions for making the fortune tellers we used when I was in grade school. It's a wonderful book, but parents who order it for their young children will be disappointed!

I actually read this book when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I could tell it was "for adults" and yet I found many good stories and rhymes in it suitable for my own uses (especially that story about the dog!) -- and I remember reading about some of the dark meanings behind the clapping games and jumprope songs I played as a kid. It was interesting to read it at that age and recognize both the things "kids" didn't "get" about the games, rhymes etc. but also the things that "adults" didn't "get" about our use of these things.