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No Hickory No Dickory No Dock: Caribbean Nursery Rhymes
Caribbean renditions of nursery rhymes apply the lilting, musical beats of the region to familiar favorites and are accompanied by colorful scratchboard illustrations that highlight such images as Mother Goose playing the marimba.
- GenresPoetry
48 pages, Hardcover
First published September 24, 1992
About the author
John Agard
118 books37 followersJohn Agard was born in Guyana and emigrated to Britain in 1977. He has worked as an actor and a performer with a jazz group and spent several years as a lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, travelling all over Britain giving talks, performances and workshops. He has visited literally thousands of schools and enjoys the live contact and the joy of children responding although it can be hard work.
John Agard started writing poems when he was about 16 - some of these early efforts were published in his school magazine. Many of his poems now are composed while looking out of train windows.
"Try the best with what you have right now
If you don't have horse, then ride cow."
It is in his poetry that John Agard makes his greatest contribution to children's literature. Like the best authors, he brings something unique to children's experience - a view of the world tempered by his own childhood, a feeling for the rhythms and cadences of its language, and a sophisticated understanding of the advantages and limitations of several forms of English. That he can make the "standard" forms work superbly is evident from many of his poems for adults. For children, with whom he communicates more directly, the lyrical Guyanese forms serve his purposes to perfection.
Agard is not a literary poet but also a performing poet and has a strong sense of his audience. When he writes for children, he seems to see them sitting at his feet. He is more interested in the ideas and words he is delivering to them than in the creation of complex fictional characters with whom his readers might engage. He lives in Sussex and is married to Grace Nichols, a respected Caribbean poet and co-author of a collection of Caribbean nursery rhymes, NO HICKORY, NO DICKORY, NO DOCK.
John Agard started writing poems when he was about 16 - some of these early efforts were published in his school magazine. Many of his poems now are composed while looking out of train windows.
"Try the best with what you have right now
If you don't have horse, then ride cow."
It is in his poetry that John Agard makes his greatest contribution to children's literature. Like the best authors, he brings something unique to children's experience - a view of the world tempered by his own childhood, a feeling for the rhythms and cadences of its language, and a sophisticated understanding of the advantages and limitations of several forms of English. That he can make the "standard" forms work superbly is evident from many of his poems for adults. For children, with whom he communicates more directly, the lyrical Guyanese forms serve his purposes to perfection.
Agard is not a literary poet but also a performing poet and has a strong sense of his audience. When he writes for children, he seems to see them sitting at his feet. He is more interested in the ideas and words he is delivering to them than in the creation of complex fictional characters with whom his readers might engage. He lives in Sussex and is married to Grace Nichols, a respected Caribbean poet and co-author of a collection of Caribbean nursery rhymes, NO HICKORY, NO DICKORY, NO DOCK.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 3, 2012
This is a collection of poems, which as the name implies is different to traditional poetry books. The Caribbean authors have given a fresh spin to some traditional poems. There are alternatives to familiar rhymes and characters plus some Caribbean ones drawn from the poets’ own childhood memories of Guyana.
The book contains a contents page with a list of all the available poetry from which children will be able to recognise some of the more familiar poems such as ‘London Bridge’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’.
The language used in this poetry book is traditional for Caribbean poetry but children may not be familiar with the grammar difference from the kind of written English they are used to seeing and hearing. For example, in the poem ‘No hickory no dickory no dock’ phrases such as ‘I didn’t run up no clock’ is common parlance in the Caribbean, however, in England it is grammatically incorrect.
The majority of the poems have accompanying pictures, which also reflect the cultures and traditions some of the poems refer to. Children will enjoy looking at these pictures as it brings the poem to life and adds interest. The language used is warm and friendly and many of the poems rhyme and have rhythmic structures, which the children will enjoy listening to, or reading.
This book is suitable for Key stage 2 children and is a valuable resource, especially useful for increasing the variety of poetry books available for children and their knowledge of other cultures and traditions.
The book contains a contents page with a list of all the available poetry from which children will be able to recognise some of the more familiar poems such as ‘London Bridge’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’.
The language used in this poetry book is traditional for Caribbean poetry but children may not be familiar with the grammar difference from the kind of written English they are used to seeing and hearing. For example, in the poem ‘No hickory no dickory no dock’ phrases such as ‘I didn’t run up no clock’ is common parlance in the Caribbean, however, in England it is grammatically incorrect.
The majority of the poems have accompanying pictures, which also reflect the cultures and traditions some of the poems refer to. Children will enjoy looking at these pictures as it brings the poem to life and adds interest. The language used is warm and friendly and many of the poems rhyme and have rhythmic structures, which the children will enjoy listening to, or reading.
This book is suitable for Key stage 2 children and is a valuable resource, especially useful for increasing the variety of poetry books available for children and their knowledge of other cultures and traditions.
November 23, 2012
This was a great favourite in my classrooms in Tottenham, Islington and Walthamstow. The well-known and well-respected poets John Agard and Grace Nichols have referred to their childhoods in Guyana to not only collect nursery rhymes from the Caribbean, but also to give a Caribbean flavour to traditional British nursery rhymes.
My two favourites are John Agard's re-telling of "Tom Tom the Piper's Son", called "A-So She Say", with the cynical refrain of "A-So Dem Say" running throughout the account of Tom running away with the pig, and the teacher correcting the grammar of the nursery rhyme. The last four lines were my classes' favourites:
and my teacher does talk sweet
and my teacher does write neat
and my teacher don't like pig meat
A-SO SHE SAY
They loved joining in the refrain and learned the rhyme off by heart.
"No More Latin" reminds me of the end of term at my own primary school days, when we didn't learn Latin or French, or sit on the old school bench. The Caribbean version has a second verse:
No more licks
To make me cry
No more eyewater
To come out me eye
I had this book in my book corner for children to read during independent reading time, and I would often read nursery rhymes from it to my classes, Y2-Y5. I would certainly use it in lessons to compare poems and rhymes from the oral tradition from different cultures. Highly recommended.
My two favourites are John Agard's re-telling of "Tom Tom the Piper's Son", called "A-So She Say", with the cynical refrain of "A-So Dem Say" running throughout the account of Tom running away with the pig, and the teacher correcting the grammar of the nursery rhyme. The last four lines were my classes' favourites:
and my teacher does talk sweet
and my teacher does write neat
and my teacher don't like pig meat
A-SO SHE SAY
They loved joining in the refrain and learned the rhyme off by heart.
"No More Latin" reminds me of the end of term at my own primary school days, when we didn't learn Latin or French, or sit on the old school bench. The Caribbean version has a second verse:
No more licks
To make me cry
No more eyewater
To come out me eye
I had this book in my book corner for children to read during independent reading time, and I would often read nursery rhymes from it to my classes, Y2-Y5. I would certainly use it in lessons to compare poems and rhymes from the oral tradition from different cultures. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews