Customer Reviews

The Real Mother Goose Board Book

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was probably the first title in my life that I designated my favoite book. Around age three this is the book I'd want read to me OVER and OVER. It got to the point where my parents or Grandma would bribe me into letting them read me something else, but, nope, I stuck to my guns and this was the one I wanted. Although by four I knew every rhyme here by heart, I loved hearing them read to me, those magically connecting syllables that were dubbed "rhymes". I also fell in love with the cover on this edition, that witch-looking old lady in the archaic clothes, and several times per session I'd ask whoever was reading to me to stop so I could look at the cover. Then I'd lean as close as I could and peer at the bright colors that surrounded the drab, leering figures. I can remember time and time again getting The Real Mother Goose down to lie flat on the floor and stare at the cover and then examine the pictures inside. It was great stuff!

In retrospect, this book was my first literary love and I still have my copy today. I can't believe anyone would ever have anything but gushing praise for these funny-sounding old words welded into rhymes that speak of olden times. As for me, I still love them all and STILL find myself staring at the somehow macabre cover illustration! This book is just plain awesome.

I still have this book from when I was a child. It has been read a hundred times over and is the best Nursery Rhyme/Mother Goose I have read. The pictures of an old-world quality that should make anyone smile. The rhymes are a delightful mix of popular with the not-so popular. It is a classic.

This is the perfect first book to read with baby. Every nursery rhyme is included, and some more. The pictures are delightfully traditional and colorful. Little babies love the black and white checkered cover. I am buying one for my first grandchild. Enjoy!

This is the book I remember from my childhood, sixty years ago. It was selected by my mother, a children's librarian.

In the past several years, I have given a copy to each of my friends in celebration of their first grandchild and it never fails to please, both for the memories it brings back and the delightful rhythms created by reading aloud. The illustrations are nostaligc but attractive to young eyes, with details to point out, a new one with each reading. And you'll be surprised at the "origins" of many familiar phrases and enjoy hearing these versions of old favorites. (It's as much fun for the grown-ups as the kids.)

I have long advocated reading to babies to get them used to having a book in front of them. If you give a child a love of reading and books, they can teach themselves anything they want to learn.

The Bookschlepper

This book has all the classic Mother Goose rhymes. I had this book as a child and it was well loved by both me and my sister. The pictures that go along with the rhymes are well done. This is a book that I buy for all of my friends when their babies are born. I still have mine to this day in my classroom, and my students would tell you it's 5 stars too!

I bought this for my future child, I remember reading this as a child myself, and have some pretty fond memories. I couldn't find the copy I grew up with so when I saw that I could order this, I was ecstatic. The hard bound cover is nice, and good enough... but the paper quality is extremely cheap and thin, the reprints of the original illustrations have less quality then the sunday comics. Oh Well, what do you expect with merchandise sold and made today.

It would be nice to have the option to pay extra to get the quality that you remember from days of old.

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. Here's my comparison of this book with four others.

This book (The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fisher Wright, ISBN 0590225170) -- 305 rhymes. First published 1916. 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). It has the smallest page size (8.5"x11") of the books reviewed here. PLUSES: Probably the most well-known, "classic" collection. Includes uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Comical Folk") and longer rhymes (e.g., "This is the House that Jack Built") not in the other books. 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.) 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). Multiple rhymes on each page could be confusing to young readers. SUMMARY: 4 stars.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose by Scott Gustafson, ISBN 978-0867130973 -- 45 rhymes. Published 2007. PLUSES: Illustrations (oil paintings) are large, detailed, varied, and fanciful; think a combination of Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, and Salvador Dali. My favorites include "Jack Be Nimble" with Jack as a grasshopper, and "Simple Simon" as a monkey and the pieman as a gorilla. 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). Some illustrations depict black and Asian children. MINUSES: Because only the first 1-4 verses from each rhyme is given, "Old Mother Hubbard" is missing a lot of verses. 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: 5 stars.

Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose: One Hundred Best-Loved Verses, ISBN 0060081716 -- Published 2005. PLUSES: If you like Engelbreit's artistic style, this book is for you. A number of illustrations depict black and Asian children. Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Three Little Ghostesses" and "Terrence McDiddler"). I found no violent rhymes. MINUSES: Some illustrations do not fit the rhymes well. 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). 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. 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). SUMMARY: 4 stars.

My Very First Mother Goose by Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells, ISBN 1564026205 -- 68 rhymes. Published 1996. 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. The large majority of the illustrations feature animals acting like people. PLUSES: Interplay of text and engaging watercolor illustrations is more creative than in any other book reviewed here. 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. 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"). 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. Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "Mrs. Mason bought a basin"). 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. Non-Christians may question the inclusion of two "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John" rhymes toward the end. SUMMARY: 5 stars.

Richard Scarry's Best Mother Goose Ever (Giant Little Golden Book), ISBN 0307155781 -- 50 rhymes. First published 1964. PLUSES: Endearing large illustrations feature animals acting like people. 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). Has some uncommon rhymes (e.g., "The cat sat asleep by the side of the fire"). 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"). 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. SUMMARY: 4 stars.

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I have nothing but fond memories from this book and when I was just browsing and came across this i was estatic! I plan on purchasing this for my son.

I believe that, to those who disliked the "quality" of book because of old times. I believe that you must sit down with your child then and talk about it. This gives you that opportunity to teach your child how "todays life" is different then "olden life," as well as what is expected today. Just because ~you~ do not agree with something does not mean you should 'shelter' your children from it. If you do, then what do they learn?

ISBN 0528823221 - Printed in USA (yay!). Ages 0 and up! Everyone knows Mother Goose, although there might be some question of how well you know her and you might want to pick this one up just to find out.

Amazon review readers should be aware that Amazon has this weird habit of putting together reviews for books that, while they may have the same title and even the same author, are not the same book. This is mostly a problem in childrens' books, where various adaptations of classics by many different authors and illustrators end up producing books that vary greatly in quality. Notice the line above every review that says "This review is from:" and be sure you're reading a review of the precise edition that you're looking for (click it if you're not certain). In some cases, such as The Real Mother Goose, this is a real problem. In that case, publisher General Books has reproduced the edition that I'm reviewing, mistakenly listing Blanche Fisher Wright as the author when she is the illustrator, BUT their edition has NO illustrations, according to the product description - so if you buy it for Wright's work, you won't be GETTING Wright's work. On with the review!

This large book (11 1/4" x 9") contain 295 nursery rhymes from Mother Goose - TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE! That's a huge number, and far more than I would have guessed even existed. That's right, I'm one of those people who thought I knew my Mother Goose until I opened this book. There's not even the slightest bit of sense in trying to tell you what's in this book, with a list that long!

The book starts with two lists, one of the titles of all the rhymes and one alphabetical list of the first lines. That second list comes in handy for rhymes you remember but can't recall the title. "Rhymes" is a wee bit euphemistic, in my opinion. There are random riddles (the title is the answer to the riddle) and limericks (clean ones, of course) and some things that just seem to ramble without pattern. The font is extra large, great for young readers, but the text will often be beyond them. It might even be beyond Mom and Dad - what percentage of American adults know what a kirk is? Or a groat? Some parents might even find Old Mother Goose too violent or unpleasant for their taste. There's a whipped daughter (Little Polly Flinders), a few drowned children (Three Children on the Ice), an abruptly dead guy (Solomon Grundy), two cats who kill each other (The Kilkenny Cats), quite a bit of alcohol and much more. The mysterious and never positively identified author, Mother Goose, is a surprisingly harsh bird.

Illustrator Blanche Fisher Wright's work is almost timeless. Originally printed in 1916, the watercolor images here are as appealing and charming as they ever were. Full page drawings and smaller ones, too, are on every page, not just bringing the rhymes to life, but bringing to life the era in which they were drawn, as well.

- AnnaLovesBooks

This book was a favorite of mine growing up and will remain a staple in my life as I grow up and have my own children. I recommend it as a great gift for anyone with small children, an excellent way to kill time with the little ones