The Alaska Mother Goose: And Other North Country Nursery Rhymes

by Shelley Gill, Shannon Cartwright (Illustrator)

Meet all the wild critters of the North in this charming book of nursery rhymes. Ages 3 and up.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Alaskan author Shelley Gill lives in Homer, Alaska at the end of the road in North America. Her books reflect her life: racing in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, doing humpback research in Prince William Sound and working as a naturalist in various habitats: Alaska, Antarctica and Hawaii. Her current project, Whale Detective, follows her own research into the community life of humpbacks in Alaska. Her APP What's Up With Whales is in the App Store and looks at the new science about whales around the world. And in February her first board book: If I Were A Whale will be released by Sasquatch Books. She has visited 4800 schools around the world inspiring students to be avid readers and great writers. Her autobiography, Gabe-a girl, her dog and the 1970's, was released in the fall 2016.

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although not exactly a travel book for children about the state of Alaska I feel that this book fits more comfortably in this location rather than in my section for nursery rhymes or even nonfiction. My main reasons for this is that first although this was meant to be based upon nursery rhymes there were only a few that I could actually match with actual nursery rhymes while everything else seemed to just be a bit of a made-up rhyme or changed so much that you couldn't figure out the stock material while there was no index that provided the curious reader with the original source material. And secondly although the book provides the reader with a tidbit of information about all the included animals it isn't enough for me to warrant it as nonfiction.

This Alaska Mother Goose does use local animals that readers may find in Alaska if they were to choose to go up there and as such that is the reason why I chose to make this book part of my travel shelves.

Some of the rhymes were decent and some were just okay to me. Fortunately this book is a visual treat for readers as they are brightly colorful, detailed and capture the heart of the state although why was a red fox included in the illustrations but not the Arctic fox?

For teacher's there is a resource center in the back that can be used to help teachers put this book in their curriculum if they should want or lesson plans probably can borrow some of the elements thus allowing those same teachers to fit this book to their classroom for a local version. Furthermore there is an index that gives a bite-size data page on some of the included species.

All in all it was a decent book while readers may enjoy it more who either actually live in Alaska or for those who may be getting ready to travel there.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

The rhymes are cute and most of all it was loved by the three year old.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a title containing twenty-five poems about animals that live in Alaska with a few poems about plants. I enjoyed the illustrations more than the poems. There is a one page glossary for some further very brief information about the subjects of the poems.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this because I noticed the short poems and we don't 'do' poems all that much. I feel like I need to get her open to the idea of all writing- not just what her mom likes to read.
These are very, very short- one or two verses usually, one to a page and they are cute. Fun to say and Julia liked following along. I'm not real sure of the targeted age group and it very well may not be three years old but Julia is a little mature for age and some of these words were a bit complicated for her. She doesn't know what a lynx is yet for example.
Besides that I'd say it's a great book.

[Bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shannon Cartwright's colored pencil Alaskan animal illustrations complement Shelly Gill's poems beautifully. These poems are written in a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme style and tell a singsong story about the different kinds of animals that one would find in the Alaskan wild. This book was published in Alaska and have teachers lesson plan notes and a glossary in the back to define the animals and plants mentioned in the poems. Kids should like it because it is not the same thing they have always heard in the past, yet it has familiar rhythms and patterns.

[KaDee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book brings back memories. I didn't really have a normal childhood; everyone else read about Jack and Jill and Mary and her lamb. I read about puffins and wolverines and porcupines that got berries stuck in their quills. Needless to say, I didn't turn out to be the most normal person in the world. :)

[Jobiska (Cindy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautiful illustrations.