- My Mother Goose: A Collection of Favorite Rhymes, Songs, and Concepts by David McPhail
Following the common use of “Mother Goose” to cover a multitude of traditional and written materials, McPhail here compiles over sixty verses and seven conceptbased entries in this engaging volume. Familiar poems such as “Pease Porridge Hot,” “London Bridge,” and “Little Miss Muffet” rub shoulders with “Rock-a-bye, Baby” and “Over the River and Through the Woods” (which appears without credit to its author, Lydia Maria Child), while spreads on key subjects such as colors, numbers, shapes, the alphabet, and items of dress add point-and-share appeal. The layout is inviting and uncluttered, with creamy white backgrounds, occasional simple borders, and capitalized first letters of each entry (no titles). McPhail’s cast, depicted with soft woodsy tones and gentle hatching, is a mixture of humans and anthropomorphized animals, cheerfully interacting in many scenes; though there’s a touch of period style in dress and scenery, the kids involved display contemporary liveliness and diversity. Some of the vignettes offer their own drama or additional take on the story: Little Bo-Peep’s sheep are mischievously hiding on the shed roof behind her; a kindly bear reassuringly douses the flame on Jack Be Nimble’s candlestick; a dragon heats up the pease porridge hot with his fiery breath. This has gift book written all over it, and a pleasing one it will make too, since its value will extend past the unwrapping to actual use. An index of first lines and another of concept spreads are appended. [End Page 273]