Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes

by Tony Ross

This wide-ranging collection of favorite nursery rhymes is selected and illustrated by the award-winning artist Tony Ross. Every child needs a good nursery rhyme book, and parents will be thrilled with the comical art in this one. Ross's inimitable illustrations portray these classic rhymes with a contemporary edge and more than a touch of gleeful wit. Perfect for reading together, this humorous book is one to be treasured for many years to come.

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

96 pages, Hardcover

First published November 6, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Tony Ross is a British illustrator and author of children's picture books. He was a student at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Ross has had quite a few occupations, such as cartoonist, graphic designer, art director at an advertising agency, senior lecturer in art and head of the illustration course at Manchester Polytechnic.
Ross won the 1986 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, picture books category, for Ich komm dich holen!, (I'm coming to get you! - Andersen, 1984. He was runner-up for the 1990 Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject, for Dr. Xargle's book of Earth Tiggers.

Meet the illustrator
What is your favourite animal?
A cat
What is your favourite boy’s name?
Bill
What is your favourite girl’s name?
Roxanne
What is your favourite food?
Lobster
What is your favourite music?
Irish
What is your favourite hobby?
Sailing

Reviews

[Evie Milburn]

Title: Three Little Kittens and other favorite Nursery Rhymes
Author: Tony Ross
Genre: Book of Nursery Rhymes
Theme(s): Silliness traditional stories, animals, illness, counting numbers
Opening line/sentence: Grandad, said Nelly, tell me a story, not a made-up one.
Brief Book Summary: This is a book of traditional nursery rhymes that have an additional side of silliness and edge. This is what makes the this book of nursery rhymes different. Some traditional nursery rhymes in this text include, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, Jack and Jill, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Three Blind Mice, etc.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Amanda Cochran (The Lorgnette- Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 22, No. 1)
Tony Ross does an excellent job illustrating the nursery rhymes in this book. He makes each nursery rhyme come to life on every page, as if you are right there with the characters. I read a few rhymes to my class; they were able to act out the rhyme from looking at the illustrations. The large font is helpful for beginning readers and letter identification activities. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves nursery rhymes and loves how illustrations can bring a book to life.
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: (3) PS The book begins with a little girl asking her grandfather about nursery rhymes. Forty-nine rhymes follow, some on a single page and others on expansive double-page spreads. Ross's spirited illustrations include lots of thoughtful details that expand the comfortably familiar entries.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I would have to agree with the two professional reviews above. I would highly recommend this book of nursery rhymes and would love to have it in my own classroom one day. The wonderful illustrations complete the silly book of nursery rhymes.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: In this book the author uses a lot of personification to make things come to life, such as humpty dumpty the egg. The author also uses a lot of imagery for the young readers to clearly picture what is going on in the specific nursery rhymes along with the wonderful illustrations.
Consideration of Instructional Application: I think I would only use this book with pre-k. This is a good book to have to use at the end of the day to keep the children calm and collected. I would use this to read a short nursery rhyme a day to the class and then have them act it out as an easy end of the day activity.

[Debbie Gillespie]

Citation: Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes, written and illustrated by Tony Ross (Henry Holt and Company, 2009)

1. Genre: Children’s Book/ Mother Goose
2. Summary: Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes, written and illustrated by Tony Ross is an adorable cartoon version of the classic nursery rhymes with which everyone is familiar .
3. Critique:
a. The strength of this sweet book is the author’s ability to present the classic Mother Goose rhymes with cartoon style imagery and an introduction that is in the “first person voice” , bringing new life to the familiar.
b. Through his use of cartoon images and an introduction that emulates a conversation with your grandfather, the author draws in the reader, painting a new picture to go with the old words.
c. The introduction draws the reader in and sets a different tone for reading the nursery rhymes by beginning, “Grandad”, said Nelly, “Tell me a story, not a made up one. One that is about real things.” “I don’t know any stories about real things”, said Grandad scratching his nose, “but I do have this book about nursery rhymes. Some of those are about real things, real things that happened many years ago. Mostly, though, they teach about something.” “What are nursery rhymes”, asked Nelly, looking very seriously. “Well”, said Grandad, “let’s read them together and find out.”
4. Curriculum Connection:
This story could be used in a variety of ways in the early elementary grades. It could be used to teach poetry, to introduce cartoon drawing in an art class, or to discuss the use of voice as a literary element in the older grades. Below find some of the correlating Virginia SOLs.

5th grade Reading
D) Describe the characteristics of free verse, rhymed, and patterned poetry.

[Kimberly]

Please note: I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this book, it's just it is for older children, not tots. In a more watercolor cartoon way, the pictures are accurate representations of what the nursery rhymes are about, not graphic. For example, with Ring around the Rosie, it shows a city in the background on fire and characters have fallen down, not in fun, but because of illness. I'm sure an older child would love learning about the nursery rhymes and enjoy learning the background. I just didn't feel it was suited for preschool children.

[Karla]

An all time classic
Love it
Well done
Highly recommended

[Nathan]

Nice variety of nursery rhymes with interesting illustrations.

[Melissa]

Three Little Kittens and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes
Selections and Illustrations by: Tony Ross

Genre: Mother Goose

1. This is a wonderful collection of nursery rhymes that children and adults alike will love. I remember a lot of these rhymes from childhood but some of them were new to me. This is a great addition to any library and wonderful example of the classic nursery rhymes.

2. Critique:
A. The area for critique was hard to choose for this book. There are no chapters, no narrations by main characters, just a collection of poems. So, my choice for critique is the selection of poems.
B. Tony Ross did an excellent job of choosing poems that would be memorable and fun for children to learn and read. The story of the three little kittens has a moral to the poem: behave well. The illustrations are created by Tony Ross. He uses water colors to fill in the drawings done by pencil. The illustrations are well done and give the poems an appeal that they would otherwise lack. Children are drawn to illustrations, especially younger ones because they can't read.
C. The illustration of Humpty Dumpty (p. 61) shows Humpty on the wall looking down. Below the poem shows what happened after he fell off the wall. The illustration alone will intrigue children enough to find someone who can read to read it to them. The Baa, Baa, Black Sheep poem (is also singable) has a black sheep leaning against a bag of wool. It's a bit comical.

3. Curriculum Connection:
I would use this story with any age group. The poems can be used to show rhyming words, and styles of poems. Also, this book could be used in a lesson of folk tales.

[Sara Lynn]

1. Genre: Picture Book/Mother Goose

2. Summary: Nelly asks his grandfather to tell him a story. Although he does not know a story of his own, he shares a book a nursery rhymes with his grandson until bedtime. Read along as Nelly hears about little Jack Horner, Jack and Jill, Peter Piper, and other nursery rhyme characters.

3. Critique:
a. One of the greatest strengths of this title is the use of humor.

b. Ross utilizes humor in his illustrations for traditional mother goose and other non-traditional nursery rhymes.

c. On page 84, the reader is introduced to the traditional tongue-tying nursery rhyme, “Peter Piper.” Instead of drawing the typical image of Peter Piper picking peppers, the illustrator has drawn the image of Peter Piper and a young girl each with their tongues tied into knots. Another example of Ross’s use of humor is depicted on page 85. When illustrating for the nursery rhyme “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater” Ross has drawn Peter’s wife inside of a pumpkin with her arms and head sticking out of the sides. This is his comical way of demonstrating to his readers that Peter was unable to “keep” his wife. By stuffing her into a pumpkin, he could keep her in one place without her getting away.

4. Curriculum Connection: This story would also be a great tool for teaching students about nursery rhymes. The unique and humorous illustrations would be excellent for use in an art classroom. An art teacher could use these illustrations to teach students about the use of color, shading, and cartoon work in their art.

[Gwen the Librarian]

Tony Ross's new nursery rhyme collection is right up there with my favorites like Rosemary Wells and Richard Scarry. The illustrations are big, bold and bright. They clearly illustrate the predicament of the characters in the antiquated rhymes and will help children learn new vocabulary and help parents explain what's going on. There's also quite a bit of humor here, in characteristic style for Ross. If you're not famliar with Tony Ross, think Quentin Blake's humourous illustrations of his own and Roald Dahl's books. Some parents might find them too sassy. Ah well, back to Rosemary Wells if you do.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S.]

This is a fantastic collection of traditional nursery rhymes with incredible illustrations. The collection of nursery rhymes is opened and closed with brief conversations between a boy and his grandpa, it is very touching and makes the book seem cozy.

[Megan]

Lots of classic nursery rhymes. I may consult this in the future for story times.

[Katie]

This is my favorite nursery rhyme anthology. Love the illustrations!

[Amy Wheatley Hale]

Classic nursery rhymes illustrated by Tony Ross. These illustrations remind me a lot of the Quentin Blake illustrations from the Roald Dahl books.

[Laura]

Really fun, but really long to read in one sitting. Includes most of the traditional nursery rhymes. Great to include in a classroom for reference and quick read alouds. (picture)

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023)]

3* art
5* rhymes

[Kesha]

Nearly a comprehensive collection of notorious nursery rhymes.

[Laura Hudock]

Melissa Wittig

Title: Three Little Kittens and other favorite Nursery Rhymes

Author: Selected by Tony Ross

Illustrator: Tony Ross

Genre: Nursery Rhymes

Theme(s): Nursery Ryhmes, children, rhyming

Opening line/sentence:
“Granddad,” said Nelly, “tell me a story, not a made-up one. One about real things.”

Brief Book Summary:

Three Little Kittens and other favorite Nursery Rhymes by Tony Ross shows a wide variety of Nursery Rhymes that are both popular and unique. These nursery rhymes are more realistic than those compared because of its obscure and more satirical tone. The stories are all in no particular order so the reader is able to jump to different parts of the book as he/she pleases. The 49 nursery rhymes are all illustrated in a similar style that depicts the different stories in an older fashion, possibly because of the view point of the grandfather telling the story. These illustrations bring uniqueness to the authors/illustrators portrayals of the story that are not represented in other texts where similar stories may be produced. Overall, the book provides a gateway to view many short rhymes in a unique and children-friendly way.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 5))
The first U.S. edition of a large-type, large-format gathering of standard Mother Goose rhymes plus the occasional interloper, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." The compiler pares "Old Mother Hubbard" and "Tom, the Piper's Son" down to one verse each, but lets "Simple Simon" ramble on for five and the title rhyme for a long four. There is no particular order or progression to the 49 selections, and a "frame story" in which Nelly asks her Granddad for a story "about real things" adds little to the experience. Aside from a Little Piggy who "had none" while exercising on a treadmill, Ross dresses everyone in old-time garb in his loosely drawn illustrations, and interprets the verses with slavish literalness. Although readers are almost certain to find one or two rhymes previously unfamiliar to them, overall it's an ordinary outing, unlikely to displace the collections illustrated by Richard Scarry or Rosemary Wells, or to make much of an impression on the diapered set. 2009, Henry Holt, 96p, $16.95. Category: Nursery rhymes. Ages 2 to 4. © 2009 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
(PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Co. (New York N.Y. :), PUBLISHED: 2009.)
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Professional Recommendation/Review #2:

Deborah Stevenson ( The Bulletin of the Center for Children s Books, July/August 2009 (Vol. 62, No. 11) )
This collection of nearly fifty classic nursery verses features animals ( The Three Little Kittens, Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat ) and people ( Cry, Baby Bunting, Little Tommy Tucker ), the fortunate ( Ride a Cock Horse, I Had a Little Hen, ) and the unfortunate ( Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty ) in short, the traditional nursery-rhyme run of experience. In this British import, noted illustrator Ross has sensibly taken a broad and pragmatic interpretation of the genre, so classic anonymous verse rubs shoulders with Lewis Carroll and lullabies. The presentation is invitingly simple, with each verse getting a page or a spread, and plenty of white space providing an easy-contrast backdrop for the large print of title and rhyme text. Ross visual style remains his usual rumply, comfortable, personable line and watercolor, his figures imbued with a gentle sense of comedy and individuality, and the illustrative vignettes are spirited and deft, sometimes approaching the masterful. They feature a friendly period cast roaming the countryside in bonnets and ties, often with a view of a village or city just beyond the bucolic foreground. The scenes are frequently imbued with hints at the folklore or fact about the rhyme s origin ( Ring around the Rosy has a bird-beaked plague physician lurking beyond the trees and London burning in the distance, while Rock-a-Bye Baby gives the old American lullaby an early American setting) or with a little narrative spin all their own (the three blind mice seem really to have brought their tailless grief on themselves by keenly pursuing the enraged and armed farmer s wife). Ross doesn t suppress the darker edges of some of these rhymes, but they blend sweetly into the general cartooning drama, and the overall atmosphere is welcoming and story-rich. A brief and very optional framing device sets up the collection as a shared read for grandparent and grandchild, and such an experience would certainly be the perfect way to introduce this trove of early earworms. There s both a table of contents and an index of first lines, so it s easy to find favorites again and again, a pastime for which this book is eminently well suited Review Code: R* -- Recommended. A book of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2009, Holt, 93p., $16.95. Ages 2-5 yrs.
(PUBLISHER: Henry Holt and Co. (New York N.Y. :), PUBLISHED: 2009.)

Response to Two Professional Reviews:

Both reviews show the importance of the variety of nursery rhymes in the book and how there is something for everyone! The first book review does not talk about what the illustrations of the stories bring to the book as much as the second one does. I did not notice personally how the illustrations put the characters of the story out of the context that they were originally written in. The r


Evaluation of Literary Elements:

Nursery Rhymes provide a great story and predicable text for younger children to enjoy reading. The variety of nursery rhymes keeps students interested in reading because of the constant switch of story line. The variety also allows students to find interests in the book even if one or two of the rhymes are not partially in their normal schema. For older students, nursery rhymes can be used to teach writing techniques like poems and short stories.


Consideration of Instructional Application:

For older students, around second, third and forth, I would use this nursery rhyme book to educate students on writing poems of their own. I would have students look at the different rhyming patterns shown in the book by highlighting the rhyming words. Then, I would have the students create their own nursery rhyme book as a class by all writing and illustrating their own short nursery rhyme/poem.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian]

Tony Ross put together a collection of nursery rhymes. I only used the first one, Three Little Kittens, during storytime. I asked everyone to "meow" for the kittens as we read the book.

2017 storytime theme: Mother Goose

Reviewed from a library copy.