Mother Goose in Prose

by L. Frank Baum, Maxfield Parrish (Illustrations)

Published three years before the author achieved fame with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this engaging volume, inspired by well-known nursery rhymes, added an exciting new dimension to old, much-loved verses. Includes 22 captivating fantasies, including Old King Cole; Little Miss Muffet; The Cat and the Fiddle, many others. 12 black-and-white illustrations.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Childrens, Short Stories, Poetry, Audiobook

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

also wrote under the names:
* Edith van Dyne,
* Floyd Akers,
* Schuyler Staunton,
* John Estes Cooke,
* Suzanne Metcalf,
* Laura Bancroft,
* Louis F. Baum,
* Captain Hugh Fitzgerald

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.
Born and raised in Chittenango, New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio focused on children's films in Los Angeles, California.
His works anticipated such later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).

Reviews

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

reading this was more tedious than i thought

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has sat on my Kindle (a freebie) as a collection of short stories that I read during short trips. I figured if it was made by the Wizard of Oz writer, it could be really interesting. That was my only 'selling' point, or I probably would have ignored it.

I think the book improved as it went along, using more obscure nursery rhymes than I ever heard of as he progressed.

What I expected was colorful imaginative fairy tales in the same spectacle as Oz. So I was surprised that he leaned toward the "there's a simple, natural explanation for this rhyme" route that made the story kind of ordinary.

Turns out (says wikipedia) this was Baum's first book, and wasn't really a success. I guess this is how he opened the door into writing, so God bless him. It's encouraging to see the beginning.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not long ago I happened to see a documentary on TV, "The Origins of Oz", the story of L. Frank Baum, how he came to write his famous Oz books, and how events in his life influenced his writings. Realizing that I had never read any of Baum's books, and in fact my only exposure to Oz had been the classic MGM movie, I decided to fill this gap in my literary life. I'm not sure that listening to an audio book counts as reading it, but I shall assume it does, and besides, it's a great way to pass the time while I'm walking the dog. While these are intended as children's stories, they are imaginative enough that an adult can enjoy them too, ideally to enjoy them while reading them aloud to a child. In this particular book, we all know the nursery rhymes, and what we have here is not by any means, authentic origin stories, but rather what might be called semi-plausible back stories. We learn, for example, how a certain plucky lad happened to be in possession of twenty-four black birds, how they ended up in the king's kitchen, and why they were all still alive when the pie was opened. Over all I was impressed by Baum's imagination as well as his story telling ability. If you have children, or grand children, you could do a lot worse than spending time reading these stories to them.

[Tabitha Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book I just could not stop by reading this book and I was very excited to rate this book

[Brenda-Jean Shephard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an amazingly quaint 267-page (not beginner) book, first published in 1897 and most recently printed in 1986. If you can't find it in the stacks, you can read the entire book online https://www.google.com/books/edition/.... L. Frank Baum and Maxfield Parrish began their careers writing and illustrating children's books with this collection of 22 fanciful, good-natured stories, each telling the "true" tale behind nursery rhymes from Old King Cole (who spent most of his life as a wandering fiddler) to Little Bun Rabbit (who visited Santa in his castle where he lived with Old Mother Hubbard). The beautifully detailed monochromatic illustrations are few, due to the prohibitive costs of printing pictures back in the 19th century.
I was drawn to this book because as a child I read every copy I could find of the Oz series written and illustrated by Baum and Parrish. But this is not a book that will be favorited by today's young readers, who are inundated with a wealth of colorful, current-themed stories. As an adult, I can appreciate the nuances of the language, but characters that live in antiquated courts or watch sheep on hillsides are not extremely relatable. This 267-page volume will appeal to collectors more than actual children.
target audience: grandparents

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice volume that answers, What in the world are those nursery rhymes about? Baum wrote a story for each one. I think I would have enjoyed it more reading it to a child, as these are very simplistic stories, perfect for bedtime reading to little ones. Bonus: only one story has a tiny bit of racism. Some kids dress up as 'Indians' in one scene and shoot arrows at someone. Which is what kids of that time did. I especially liked the last story, which is about a girl named Dorothy talking to a rabbit who tells of his trip to Santa's workshop. Foreshadowing? I think so. If you can find an edition with the Maxfield Parrish illustrations, they are great. Otherwise, you can get the free Kindle edition.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a charming retelling of the Mother Goose rhymes; actually, the rhymes are used as a kind of jumping-off point around which to construct elaborate stories within which the rhymes somehow make sense - the way fantasy stories or fairy-tales "make sense" of course! The author, L. Frank Baum, who is famous for having written the "Wizard of Oz," comes across as an entirely decent fellow, so that there isn't too much violence or horror - as you might find in Grimm's tales for instance even though they are fairy-tales. In this retelling of the Mother Goose rhymes, things are mostly moderate and there is no trepidation in reading any of these stories, which would be entirely suitable for a child. The illustrations, by famous illustrator/artist Maxfield Parrish, are also excellent - and enhance the fantasy-world of the stories, which are always set in a shadowy, mythic former world of small villages nestled near forests, etc. A world before industrialization of course - a much simpler world. This was an ingenious book - thinking up "plausible" reasons for what are considered or certainly seem "unrealistic" or "ridiculous" rhymes such as "the cow jumped over the moon" and so forth. I enjoyed it very much, even though I am by now way, way beyond childhood! I recommend this book to readers of all ages!

[Noel Thingvall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't sure what to expect from this, but it's a very impressive work, as Baum takes familiar simple nursery rhymes and concocts a full parable for each to retroactively be based on. They're snappy and fun for kids, but also sophisticated and thematic for adult, as they explore classism, poverty, politics, complex relations between humans and animals. My favorite was "Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary", where he crafts a longing and anxious tale where the eponymous girl is using the growth of her garden as a way to count down the days until her father and brothers return from a long expedition at sea. Really, they're all lovely and witty and impressively moving, "The Man in the Moon" probably being the weakest, though even that has an interesting hot air balloon climax that presages Wizard of Oz.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1897 by L. Frank Baum (author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”), it is an expansion of classic nursery rhymes in prose form. In his forward, Baum says that his intention was to expand some of the rhymes in order to give more information to the imagination of children. As an example, in the story of “Little Boy Blue”, Baum’s prose starts with the story of a poor widow and her only son. The son goes to the Squire to find out about work so he can earn money for food for his mother. The story expands significantly from there, including an explanation of why the boy was “asleep under the hay” and has a lovely moral. Overall, Baum’s stories are charming and delightful.

[Adelaide Garner · Rating 5 out of 5]

We listened to this on Canon+ kind of on a whim, and we were all so delighted by it! Baum is such an excellent storyteller, and the imaginative backstories he invents for these classic nursery rhymes are very funny and really interesting. This is one of my favorite go-to audiobooks with my kids now.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RTuP...

[Susan Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we went to the Broadway Buzz, just prior to seeing Wicked again, I read about this book. The stories are written by L. Frank Baum, the autho of the Wizard of Oz. Baum takes the lovely Mother Goose rhymes that we all learned and/or taught our children and created full little stories about the various characters. The beginning of each chapter repeats the rhyme and then you hear the story behind the rhyme. Little Boy Blue only fell asleep because he had been loyal to his mom, staying up all night to nurse her after a broken leg. He had gone to work initially because she became ill and they needed some money. Naturally his squire on learning about this ended up giving the boy and his mom a cottage to live in and he never fell asleep again while on the job. Here's the final paragraph: He always said his mother's accident had brought him good luck, but I think it was rather his own loving heart and devotion to his mother that made him friends. For no one is afraid to trust a boy who loves to serve and care for his mother.

Perfectly delightful read for even young children.

[John Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story behind the story. One or two seemed pointless, a couple really stretched thin, maybe one hopelessly mundane, a depressing story here or there (face it though—what are you going to do with Humpty Dumpty?). But some very imaginative.

(One of the most confusing scan-to-text ebooks I’ve read: the title from the top of the page didn’t just scan in place. “Mother” might be on one line, “Goose” on the next, and “Prose” not show up until the next paragraph. And the title of the current verse, which seemed more than usually prone to the errors concomitant with the –to-text process.)

[Phil Chenevert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book. Baum takes many familiar mother goose poem and then explains the background story in his famous style. I recorded this book for Librivox in Nov-Dec 2011 because I found it to be so entertaining.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

very cute book that where Baum comes ip with stories to explain the common nursery rhymes that children learn.
I found it very amusing, and I'm sure that my children will awesome when they are old enough to follow along with the stories.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the (free!) Kindle edition...would like to see an illustrated version.

[Dawnya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cute and imaginative.Nothing brilliant, but a fun read and an insight into literary history of the US.

[Kathy Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Frank Baum's books and his style of writing. Baum made up stories to support the familiar nursery rhymes.

[Jessica Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mother Goose Rhyme are so much fun, and the way that they are expanded here really give them life!