Mary Had a Little Jam and Other Silly Rhymes

by Bruce Lansky, Stephen Carpenter (Illustrator)

These all-new, delightfully silly nursey rhymes recount the latest adventures of Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Old King Cole, Old Mother Hubbard, Little Boy Blue, Little Bo-Beep, and other best-loved Mother Goose characters. Children have been waiting for this sequel for over 200 years.

Sample verse : "Mary had a little jam; she spread it on a waffle. And if she hadn't eaten ten, she wouldn't feel so awful."

This book is an iParenting Media Awards Back to School 2004 Poetry .

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Nursery Rhymes, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Food

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

I was born on June 1, 1941. My first home was an apartment in Manhattan's Upper West Side, a neighborhood that overlooked the George Washington Bridge. Soon after kindergarten, my family moved to Scarsdale, which seemed to be “in the country.” In high school, I broke my ankle when I went out for the lacrosse team, so I wrote a sports column for the school newspaper. I don't think I showed any particular talent for writing then.

I went to St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. I actually learned to read Greek (I didn't understand it, though). I transferred from St. John's to New York University, so I could study political science and economics. I graduated with a major in philosophy and a minor in English. My first job was a market researcher for a beer company in New Jersey. Over the next five years, I switched jobs several times: advertising copywriter, advertising account executive, and marketing manager at a candy company.

I married Vicki and we had a baby, Douglas. I wanted him to have a home surrounded by grass and trees and ball fields, so I accepted a job in Minnesota, and Doug got a baby sister, Dana. What rescued me from poverty was that my wife and some other mothers wrote a cookbook. We published it ourselves, and it was a huge hit. That's how I figured out that I wanted to be a publisher when I grew up. We built Meadowbrook Press, and I became an author of baby name books and humor books for adults.

Ten years ago, I wanted to put together a children's book of all the poems they loved best. To find these poems, I tested poems in elementary schools. As I was testing poems on children, I decided to write a few to see what the response would be. At first it wasn't that good, but as my writing improved, I added my poems to new books. To get them just right, I'd rewrite them over and over. I've now edited six poetry anthologies and filled three books with my own poems. Because I spent a lot of time reading and testing poems in classrooms, schools started inviting me to perform. I've now performed at hundreds of schools. My goal to put on the most entertaining, most educational, and most motivating assembly a school has ever had. My web site, http://www.gigglepoetry.com, helps kids discover the fun of reading and writing poetry.

Language arts are a very important part of what you learn in school. You can read great books that take you to far-away lands. You can write your own stories and make yourself the hero of exciting adventures. Even if it seems hard sometimes, don't give up. Keep practicing your reading and writing skills, and soon it will become easier. There are so many wonderful worlds to explore in books and poetry. Get your very own passport by learning to read and write the very best that you can.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bruce Lansky teams up with some friends to serve up a sequel to or, more accurately, a rewrite of the traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

This couplet pretty much epitomizes the results:

"Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a rooster.
His saddle wasn't high enough, so now he's got a booster."

My daughter thought that this was hilarious satire when she was three. I find it an exercise in tedium as they just pull the same trick forty more times.


FOR REFERENCE:

Originally published as The New Adventures of Mother Goose: Gentle Rhymes for Happy Times.

Contents:
• Old Mother Goose / Bruce Lansky
• Mary Had a Little Jam / Bruce Lansky
• Hickory, Dickory, Dock / Jeffery Goodson
• Hickory, Dockory, Hic / Bob Zanger
• There Was a Little Girl / Brad Schreiber
• Georgie Porgie / Bruce Lansky
• Little Miss Muffet / Bruce Lansky
• Jack and Jill / Bruce Lansky
• Jack Was Nimble/ Bruce Lansky
• Little Bo-Peep / Bruce Lansky
• Little Boy Blue / Bruce Lansky
• Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Girl June / Bruce Lansky
• Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son Scooter / Gwen Molnar
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat / Bruce Lansky
• Rub-a-Dub-Dub / Mary Collins Dunne
• London Bridge / Bruce Lansky
• Humpty Dumpty / Mary Collins Dunne
• Mary, Mary Quite Contrary / Bruce Lansky
• Tom, Tom, the Teacher's Son / Sylvia Andrews
• Old Mother Hubbard / Bruce Lansky
• Peter, Peter, Sugar Eater / Bruce Lansky
• Fee Fie Fo Fum / Bruce Lansky
• Hiccup, Hiccup / Bruce Lansky
• Some Like It Hot / Bruce Lansky
• Hey Diddle, Diddle / Stan Lee Werlin
• Lavender Blue / Bruce Lansky
• Old King Cole / Larry Cohen and Steve Zweig
• Pat a Cake / Bruce Lansky
• Pat a Pie / Virginia Kroll
• There Was an Old Woman / Larry Cohen and Steve Zweig
• Yankee Doodle / Robert Scotellaro
• Roses Are Red / Bruce Lansky
• Jack Sprat / Lois Muehl
• Simple Simon / Bruce Lansky
• Wee Willie Winkie / Bruce Lansky
• Dapple-Gray / Brad Schreiber
• Three Kind Mice / Robert Scotellaro
• Sweetheart, You're My Little Star / Bruce Lansky
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star / Elizabeth Weiss
• Star Light, Star Bright / Bruce Lansky
• Rock-a-Bye, Baby / Bruce Lansky

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly fun read!

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

*First read when I was a kid*

When I was younger, I read a lot of Bruce Lansky's poetry, so his humor and writing style were a good part of my childhood. In this collection, commonplace nursery rhymes are updated with a twist. This is good for a laugh, but it's also a good introduction to humor and parody for kids.

Having not read this in years, I still chuckled at some of the rhymes. I'm really glad that it held up, and I think it will hold up for kids in the future, too.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated nursery rhymes - think Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes but shorter and less grisly although just as funny. Were my siblings' children just a little younger I'd be on the lookout for a copy for them.

[T.E. Antonino · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a lot of fun to read. I like the creative thinking that went into this book.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these poems might sound familiar, but they have a twist that gives them a joyful and funny meaning. These are all short poems and students will enjoy reading this alone or in a group. Theres enough for the whole class in this book. Popcorn reading would be a good technique to read the book and enjoy a nice evening with students.

[Kiana Rios]

A wonderfully quirky and fun collection that puts a playful spin on classic nursery rhymes. Lansky takes familiar tales and adds humorous twists, turning them into laugh-out-loud moments for both kids and adults. The creative rhymes and clever wordplay had me smiling throughout, and I couldn’t help but think of how much fun it would be to read aloud with young readers.

[Madison Persinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Bruce Lansky! All of his poems are great and hilarious for kids and adults alike. I enjoy reading them to my classes and my goddaughters. We all get a laugh when we read his work. and this book, in particular gives twists on stories that kids already know and love.

[Laura Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute rhyming book! Enjoyed reading poems I had never heard before.

[Jandee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of alternative nursery rhymes is adorable and so funny! I love it!

[Nola · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these alternative nursery rhymes. Great for researching the original rhymes.

[Tracy Strahsburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of poems has to be one of my favorite that I read for this assignment. Bruce Lansky, the poet, took very well known nursery rhymes such as “Hey diddle diddle” and “twinkle, twinkle, little star” and changed words here and there in the poems to make it have a brand new, and quite funny meaning. These poems are so short and simple they are sure to be a big hit with young students. Complicated metaphors vocabulary were kept out of these poems as well as excessive length making them perfect for younger aged students. The color pictures that accompany each poem perfectly illustrate the silliness of each poem in an easy to understand fashion. One of my favorites in this book went as follows “Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to get her poor dog a bone. But the dog couldn’t wait, so when dinner was late, he ordered a pizza by phone.” I cannot wait to share this book with my first graders!

[Kiersten Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This nursery rhyme anthology has not received any awards.
It is recommended for grades pre-k - kindergarten.
This anthology has so many rhymes that are based off of traditional nursery rhymes, but have changes to them. The new nursery rhymes are about the same characters, just with different plots. Some of the rhymes include Three Blind Mice, Fee Fie Fo Fum, and Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
I really liked reading through the many rhymes of this book. I really enjoyed how the rhymes were based off of traditional nursery rhymes, but had a new twist. I liked how for each rhyme, there was an illustration to go along with it.
One way this could be used in a pre-k classroom is before nap time, 4-5 rhymes can be read. Another way it could be used in an elementary classroom is by having students make their own nursery rhymes by basing it off traditional ones.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Lansky puts a new twist on many classic nursery rhymes and poems.

I picked this up because the record in the catalog needed work, and I read it on a whim. I'm so glad I did. I absolutely loved Lansky's re-writes of these nursery rhymes. They're very clever, and most all of them make the rhymes funnier, nicer (for example, the blind mice are kind mice and give the farmer's wife a slice of cheese instead of losing tails to a knife), and overall are more relevant to modern kids. I'd pick giving this as a gift versus a traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes book any day.

[Cheryl P · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry book for early elementary students is full of familiar rhymes with a modern twist. For example, instead of the Mary had a little lamb rhyme, it says "Mary had a little jam; she spread it on a waffle. And if she hadn't eaten ten, she wouldn't feel so awful." It's funny and more modern and relatable to today's students than the traditional rhymes. I would use this in my early elementary classroom to talk about and practice rhyming. I've identified the writing trait as sentence fluency because the rhyme and sing-song rhythm.

[RLL52014Jamie Cotell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Had a Little Jam: And Other Silly Rhymes is a really cute book for kindergarten and first grade. Each rhyme starts out like the original Mother Goose Rhymes, but than has a modern twist to it. It is hilarious. I would recommend reading the original Mother Goose nursery rhymes with your class and then comparing them to these rhymes. There are also wonderful illustrations that go along with each rhyme.

[Ginni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute little collection of revamped nursery rhymes. The illustrations are by far the best part, so kudos to Stephen Carpenter. The poems themselves are entertaining enough; they do recycle the same base nursery rhymes quite a bit (I lost count of the "Mary had a little lamb" variations), but my kids loved them. I also appreciated the rhymes being updated to leave out the weird or violent bits.

(I received this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway.)

[Ayana Mishelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

great funny rhyming book for pre-k and kindergarten. First graders would love it also. The rhymes are so funny and silly !!
"Mary had a little jam"
"she spread it on a waffle "
" and if she hadn't eaten it "
" she wouldn't feel so awful"
see what i mean ?

[Ellenjsmellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute. Author combined a bunch of different children's rhymes to make new ones.

[Srsauve · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first graders find these poems absolutely hilarious. If you have kids this is a must read! It's a great way to get them excited about reading poetry.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute. My kids loved it.

[Megan B · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun! If your kids are familiar with the traditional versions of the classic nursery rhymes, they will love this. Hilarious, very well done.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun play on nursery rhymes.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love books like this. The kids get such a kick out of the twists on the usual rhymes. A fun book to re-read again and again

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute retellings of classic nursery rhymes. My nieces like this one a lot more than I do!

[Grannyreadsalot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute take on traditional nursery rhymes!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun book of changed nursery rhymes. Quick little rhymes that would be great in the classroom.

[Trauma Newell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my son and he just laughed at the great humor of the silly Rhymes. Good book to read to a group of Children at one time.

[LeeAnn G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too cute. Great way to modernize the rhymes we learned when we were little.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny fractured nursery rhymes. Goes over great with kindergartens when they recite the original version and then you read them the funny one.