Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes

by Robert Wyndham, Ed Young (Illustrator)

An enchanting "album containing more than 40 rhymes, riddles, lullabies and games that have amused Chinese children since long before the time of the emperors . . ."--The New York Times Book Review. Full color.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nursery Rhymes, Childrens, China

48 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 1982

Reviews

[Mahrya]

Wyndham, Robert Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes, Paperstar, 1968. Picture book, Mother Goose story.

Description: Several Chinese nursery rhymes, riddles, poems and games have been translated into English. Each rhyme is accompanied by Chinese watercolors.

Review: Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes is prefaced by a note from the translator about the universal nature of children's stories. Wyndham believes that English speaking children will be able to identify with the spirit and characters of his selections. For the most part, Wyndham is right. The animal stories are especially similar to the English Mother Goose rhymes. The volume could either be read straight through, or selections could be chosen to read with kids. The riddles and movement games would be particularly well-suited for story time, as they encourage children to move and participate interactively.

Professional Reviews:
Children's Literature, 1998.
This review focuses on the spare but colorful watercolors that accompany the book. The watercolors do convey the action of the rhymes very effectively. The review also states that this volume may help children recognize the similarities and differences between cultures. This too, is an accurate statement about the book.

Publisher's Weekly, May, 1998.
This very short review also focuses on the paintings in this text. Once again, I find this observation apt.

[Karla]

A little long
Not very engaging
Children didn't enjoy it

[Jane Irish Nelson]

Translations of a variety of children's rhymes from China, including riddles, counting rhymes, and games. Beautifully illustrated, with the original Chinese text along the edges of the pages.

[J-Lynn Van Pelt]

I was excited to read this picture book and find some possible parallels to American mother goose rhymes. In the forward, the author talks about how, when translating the selections in the book, he was surprised at how many similarities there were. But, I never found them. Especially since most of the translated selections were not nursery rhymes, but parables and riddles. The few poems that were included obviously lost something in the translation and with no cultural context provided, often don't make sense. Wyndham also says that he changed the poems to "interest and entertain English-speaking readers and listeners." This comes across in the fact that although the selections have been translated from another language, all of the ending lines rhyme as would be expected in English nursery rhymes. This makes me wonder how much of the original Chinese children's tales are actually left after his liberal translation.

There are a few selections that might work in a unit on international nursery rhymes. Or that could be used with young children to build phonological awareness or develop fluency through repeated readings. Such as,

"Lady bug, lady bug,
Fly away, do!
Fly to the mountain
To feed upon the dew..."

There are Chinese characters on each page which I assume are the Chinese versions of the nursery rhymes. This could be fun to use with bilingual children who can read in both languages and see how much of the translations have been changed.

However, I do have some cultural and gender concerns with this book. Because the rhymes are taken out of context, I think they may be easy for us to negatively judge based on our own limited understanding of the Chinese culture. Also, the pictures are simple watercolor, but some portrayals of people, especially Chinese men, are extrememly traditional, bordering on stereotypical. Also, the book was written in 1968, before the Women's Rights Movement and the author apparently had not problem including several negative examples of women, including the following entry:

"We keep a dog to guard the house;
A pig will make a feast or two;
We keep a cat to catch a mouse;
But what is the use of a girl like you?"

[Debby]

This has more riddles and modern type poems that rhyme. The meaning is usually clear.

Pictures are oriental looking - all done with outline of blue colored in. The lines show the different parts clearly. Done in geometric patterns. Really cute.

[Carfig]

Nothing familiar here except for the cadence meant for children's rhymes. Nicely translated, with a noticeable rhythm and some beautiful illustrations by Ed Young.