The Classic Mother Goose

by Armand Eisen (Editor), John Steven Gurney (Illustrator), Gail Nelson Hauetter (Illustrator)

Contains more than fifty nursery rhymes, including such favorites as "Peter Piper," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Jack and Jill," and "Little Boy Blue"

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

56 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1988

Reviews

[Debra Palmer]

This book had many of the nursery rhythms that we are all use to. For example: Old Mother Hubbard, Three Blind Mice, Hey Diddle, Diddle, and Rock-A-Bye Baby. I also found a few that I was unfamiliar with. For example: Punch and Judy, Little King Boggen, The Man in the Moon, and The Brave Old Duke of York. Whether they were new or the classics I enjoyed reading all the same.

What really brought me to read this particular version of Mother Goose rhythms was the illustrations. They were all hand drawn by eight different illustrators. Some of the illustrations were more whimsical and some were more realistic people, but all were colored and shaded by color pencil.

nursery rhythms, game songs Recommended Ages 2-7

[Anthony]

Fifty-two classic nursery rhymes by Mother Goose that are sure to delight children and restore lost memories for an older generation as they revisit familiar characters found in the pages of this collection.

[Anthony Mitchell]

As well stated in the foreword,there is hardly a child in the English-speaking world who does not know at least one or two Mother Goose rhymes. In addition to the illustrations for each poem,the inside cover has symbols that represent characters from some of the classic poems.
In the foreword,Mother Goose said it well when she rhymed,"No,no,my melodies will never die,While nurses sing and babies cry." This speaks to the iconic nature of Mother Goose rhymes. I had these nursery school rhymes read to me as a child,I read them to my son,and he will probably read them to his children in the future. Not to mention I'm still reading and using them for this class!
My classroom connection is have my students select their favorite Mother Goose rhyme and draw the story on a poster board. The rhyming scheme makes it fun to learn about words and helps beginner readers. Beginner readers are more apt to want to read if the subject they are reading about is fun.
Interest level is Kindergarten. For grade equivalent I gave it 3.5. There was no Lexile measure for the book by Eisen,however the book by Brian Wildsmith has a 3.5 grade equivalent. Since both books have the same content,i gave it the same grade equivalent.

[Amy]

This is a perfectly acceptable Mother Goose, containing the classics plus a few I've never heard of.

[Eric]

Filled with classic stories that I enjoy reading to my children.