Michael Foreman's Nursery Rhymes

by Michael Foreman

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 1998

About the author

Michael has worked on magazines, book jackets, animated films, TV adverts, and even for the police, sketching criminals described by witnesses. As well as illustrating many of his own books, Michael has illustrated over a hundred books for authors such as Shakespeare, J. M. Barrie, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde. Michael has travelled widely - to Africa, Japan, the Arctic Circle, China and Malaysia, the Himalayas, Siberia and New Zealand - to research his books. "I do a lot of research when I'm travelling - I find it thrilling to discover the particular 'art' of different landscapes and work them into a book. But I find I have to travel by myself, otherwise I'm constantly getting involved in other people's impressions of a place... I try to be invisible when I'm travelling, so I tend to listen in on conversations rather than participate in them - I just want to look and draw."

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Quite a Nice Nursery Rhyme Book, In Fact (In My Mind) One of the Best.

[hafsakbytheway · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be biased as this book taught me how to read but 20 years later the illustrations are still as charming as ever. Even my aunt who bought me it is still impressed.

The illustrations from one page lead to the other seamlessly.

The father in bye bye baby bunting can be seen hunting in the background of round and round a garden while the rabbit he is hunting is on the next page still; hiding under a stool where a lady sits singing this is the way the ladies ride to her baby.

The sheep from little boy blue trot through the pages and pass baa baa black sheep. Mary with her little lamb can be seen on the page after her rhyme where she becomes mary mary quite contrary. We see Humpty dumpty's legs falling over her garden wall before we see his rhyme on the next page. I delighted in seeing these connections as a toddler and still do. There are even children of colour in it which soothes this brown girl's ache of not being British enough in my own home. I wonder if we have gone backwards...but I digress.

It's such an extensive collection too. There are nursery rhymes that I have never again encountered in my life. I hope they will all be preserved for future generations and this book is one of the most beautiful ways to preserve them.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book