Maybe Mother Goose

May 30, 2016
Codell and Chavarri reprise the irreverent conceit of 2011’s Fairly Fairy Tales, offering condensed versions of six nursery rhymes. Rhymes like “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” appear in their full, traditional forms, followed by call-and-response recaps that end with out-of-left-field twists (“ ‘Black sheep?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Wool?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Bags?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Camera?’ ‘Nooooo!’ ”). “Well, maybe,” reads the following page, as Mother Goose, the Dish and the Spoon, and other recognizable characters don black-tie finery for a red-carpet-worthy photo shoot. Readers who are familiar with the original rhymes will be giggling over these quirky interpretations. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlsen & Lerner.

April 1, 2016
Nursery rhymes provide playful opportunities for a diverse classroom. Readers familiar with Codell's work may recognize that Chavarri models the teacher character after her in the colorful, digital illustrations. The teacher greets a multiracial group of children entering her nursery school classroom in frontmatter pages. And the text begins with a brief Q-and-A: "Circle time? Yes. Playing with friends? Yes. Indoor recess? NOOOOO!" The teacher holds up a Mother Goose book to entice her disappointed charges, who stand looking out at the rain in the last part of this exchange. The subsequent double-page spread doesn't seem quite to follow, as it first shows the "Twinkle Twinkle" rhyme and then depicts a pajama-clad black child answering "Yes" to "Window?" "Star?" "Wish?" and "NOOOOO!" to "Space aliens?" But then a page turn delivers the equivocal verdict "Well, maybe" and shows the child cavorting in a fantastic outer-space scene with extraterrestrials, spaceships, and the cow jumping over the moon. (Is this indoor recess?) The Q-and-A pattern continues with other rhymes until the book's end, when it returns to classroom, teacher, and children, who can now go outside to play since the rain, rain's gone away. While there's rhyme, this text lacks reason. (Picture book. 3-5)

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June 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-When it's a rainy day at Mother Goose Nursery School, the teacher cheers up the children with fun presentations of nursery rhymes. The six rhymes she recites during indoor recess include "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," and "Sing a Song of Sixpence." Each rhyme ends with four questions. After "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," the teacher asks the children, "Window? Star? Wish?" and the children say, "Yes," because these words are featured in the rhyme and digital illustrations. The last question is meant to be humorous. "Space aliens?" The children scream out, "Nooooo!" but when the page is turned, they see the possibility of aliens interacting with nursery rhyme characters. Notable spreads show 16 nursery rhyme characters dressed in formal wear. The maids in "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" look like flowers, and while the children play "Ring Around the Rosie," Bo Peep and Boy Blue get married under a trellis of Mary's flowers. VERDICT A wonderful follow-up to Fairly Fairy Tales.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

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