Mother Goose

by Tasha Tudor

The noted artist illustrates a selection of traditional nursery rhymes

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Classics, Nursery Rhymes, Art, Fiction

87 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Tasha Tudor was an American illustrator and author of children's books.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations for 77 nursery rhymes. There were a few rhymes in here I had not heard of before and many that I knew well with variations. I think the best thing about this is the art. It's funny, the kids don't really know nursery rhymes all that well.

The nephew thought this was ok. He said it wasn't a story. He said 2 stars.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful version of Mother Goose for small hands. Tudor has more of a real-world/historical view and less of a fantasy view than some other Mother Goose versions I enjoy.

[Steven Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. Genre: Mother Goose
2. This book contains a collection of Mother Goose rhymes with, each of which has an illustration to go along with it.
3a. Illustrations
3b. Overall, the illustrations are very good at capturing the general idea of whichever Mother Goose rhyme it belongs to. The illustrations are placed as the main centerpiece of each page, with the rhyme written below. This is allows for the illustrations to be seen first, and then the rhyme is read. There are a few illustrations, however, that do not seem to match or give an inappropriate image for children.
3c. On pages 64 and 65, the images that go along with "How many miles is it to Babylon?" and "Pease porridge hot" are of children playing. Neither of these rhymes indicate it is about children playing. It is confusing to see the illustration and then read the rhyme. And on page 37,the illustration for "Bonny lass, pretty lass, wilt thou be mine?" is of an older man sitting beneath a tree with his arm around a adolescent girl. The message of this rhyme is that the girl is to be pampered by the speaker. The illustrations suggests an inappropriate relationship between the older man and the child, making this an inappropriate image for children to see.
4. These rhymes all portray an important lesson for children. Mother Goose books are an excellent starting point for lessons about social skills. This works for all ages as well which is what makes the Mother Goose books so valuable. While teaching poetry, the books can also teach kids lessons on being a good friend, a good citizen, etc.

[Britney Padilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

For children in 1st and 2nd grades. In this book there are seventy-seven nursery rhymes which are all accompanied by illustrations. The Rhymes include classics such as Hickory Dickory Dock, Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Tuffet and some other not so known rhymes for children. The strengths of this book are definitely the classic well known rhymes. The illustrations are also a major strength. Every page has an illustration in either color or black and white. The colorful paintings are done in watercolor while the black in white are in pencil. Children, farm, animals, and nature are all depicted in these illustrations. A weakness in this book is that it is a bit out dated, especially in the language. Some of the vocabulary is not as common nowadays. Also, one of the lines in the book read, “She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.” This is not a good concept for our modern day literature. I would not recommend this book in its entirety. Most likely, a similar volume with only the well known classics. This title could definitely be used in a lesson plan in a classroom for teaching children about and how write rhymes.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the fine lines of Tasha Tudor’s illustrations of these many Mother Goose rhymes. Some of the rhymes use different words than the ones I learned growing up - such as “Ring-around-a roses” where “We’ll all tumble down” and “Baa, baa, black sheep” where “the little boy cries in the lane.” I think my favorite image of the entire book is of the old woman who lived in a shoe. Tudor has drawn it as an upside down old shoe with children peeking out of the soles and dancing on the heels. I usually see illustrations of an upright shoe, but this somehow makes more sense. I also enjoyed all the tiny details of the children in this particular picture who, thankfully, don’t appear to be very upset about having been whipped and sent to bed.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the rhymes are not very familiar, which only goes to show how things change over the years. I found myself fascinated with this book. Loved the illustrations which made me want to own a copy of this for myself. More interested in reading the rhymes and remembering bits and pieces of history that is behind them. I think I'd like to research Mother Goose and understand better where these little poems fit in our culture and what they really have to say.

But on the surface - taking this book for what it is - I liked it. I liked the old illustrations and the feel of a time past that comes of reading them. This is comfort food for the soul.

[Bookish Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I flipped through this book, I was in awe with all the illustrations. This book places a creative touch on well-loved nursery rhymes and entails quite a beautiful interpretation throughout.

[Luisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. The illustrations are skillfully rendered, but there are some really problematic parts of this book. As another reviewer mentioned, one poem mentions whipping kids. Another talks about a boy drowning a cat. The poem on page 37 seems to be about a man proposing to a woman...but the illustration is a man talking to a little girl, which is giving major "child bride" vibes. Even my 3-year-old refers to it as "the creepy book." I understand this was written in another era, but reading it from a current-day lens, in the words of Randy Jackson, "it's a no for me, dawg."

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many familiar nursery rhymes, but also many new ones. Includes some songs that I didn't realize had their origins in Mother Goose -- for example "Lavender Blue, Dilly Dilly ..." and "Oh, Dear, What can the matter be?"

The art for the Old Lady Who Lived in A Shoe is fun as is the art for London Bridge. Too bad all of the art isn't in color.

Rating: 3.5

2024

I enjoy nursery rhymes more now than I did as a child.
e.g., p 38
When good King Arthur ruled this land,
He was a goodly king.
He stole three pecks of barley meal,
To make a bag pudding.

So ... a goodly king is a thief. And few, if any, children would know what is meant by 'three pecks of barley meal.' Bag pudding?

Clever illustrations:
- Old Woman who lived in a shoe
- Humpty Dumpty
- Cow who jumped over the moon

[Maria Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

• 1945 Caldecott Honor Book •

I like the delicate, old-fashioned drawings. Every other page is full color, and the rest are black and white. I was only familiar with a few of the nursery rhymes, and others I only recently read in different Caldecott books (Marguerite De Angeli's Book of Nursery & Mother Goose Rhymes & Sing Mother Goose). I like this version and I also like that the physical size of the book is small, which goes well with the intricate drawings.

Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted

[CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, simple pictures. I wonder if this is early work by Tudor? Still cute. Just not as complex as the Corgiville books, for example. I was surprised by how much of the art was in black and white. All the pictures were still charmingly old fashioned, which suits many of the little poems. I noticed that several of the poems had wording different from what I'd heard before, but nothing the dramatically affected the meaning of them. just a few different words or lines here and there. Something cute to share with kids.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've hit my limit with Mother Goose and nursery rhymes, so I was in a hurry to get through this volume. Most of the rhymes were familiar, but at least there were a few new ones.

Doctor Foster went to Glo'ster
In a shower of rain.
He stepped in a puddle,
Up to his middle,
And never went there again.

The illustrations are consistently good if a bit cute, but some have real sparkle. Worth the read, but I'm glad I'm past it now - probably wouldn't recommend it or come back for another read. 2.6 stars.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small book of English Mother Goose rhymes included many with which I was very familiar, and it also had many that were completely new to me. So, a very good mixture of the two. Except for a couple of rhymes on double-page spreads, all of the rhymes are printed on one page with an illustration to accompany it. Black and white drawings alternate with colorful ink and watercolor paintings. All of the illustrations depict people from times long past: Victorian times and earlier; and most are set in bucolic country scenes or small villages. Thus the book has a very old-fashioned feel to it.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had an assortment of rhymes. Some I've known since I was a child, some I had never heard of and some that were just plain silly. The pictures were sweet and I thought that the overall feel of this book was quite delightful. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2008...

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a collection of 77 Mother Goose rhymes, and included a lot of strange ones that everyone has heard of. I loved the illustrations, with a few exceptions where they were a little unintentionally creepy (like the one for See Saw Margery Daw on page 17, or the one for Bonny Lass, Pretty Lass, Wilt Thou Be Mine on page 37). The book won a 1945 Caldecott Honor award. Recommended for ages 3-6, 3 stars.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic children's poetry book with classic art. Both the poetry and the art are definitely showing their age. Sure they are nice enough, though kind of boring. It is interesting to see slightly different versions though of a number of the poems. The art reads so old - not just rural scenes - but seemingly scenes that it is hard to imagine that anyone thought would be what you'd want to see in a children's book. Could almost better serve as Children's Literature History.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved Tasha Tudor's illustrations - we had a Christmas book that she illustrated in our house as I was growing up. But I seem to remember a penchant for corgis? Despite the fact that in this book I found NO CORGIS, I still thought it was lovely. There were some rhymes I'd never heard before, and lots of old familiar ones (with slight variations).

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of Mother Goose rhymes. Some I was familiar with, others I had never heard before. They are accompanied by Tudor's nice illustrations. It was interesting to see how some of the rhymes were different from how I learned them, but as is often the case with folklore, they are adapted and changed.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Tasha Tudor book. I usually love her illustrations, especially the flowery borders from some of her other books, which she didn't really use in Mother Goose. Not a bad book, just not my favorite.

[Aysheh M · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was reading this book, it brought back memories from when I was a child. Reading it now I realized how some of the rhymes were silly and someone didn't make sense. There were some rhymes that I thought were slightly different from the book. But it was an okay book.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old fashioned illustrations some color some b/w. 77 verses

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caldecott Honor 1945 - Reading this makes me wonder how Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes were put together in a collection? Some of these are really strange.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

1945 Caldecott Honor

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very similar to the other Mother Goose books I've read for this Caldecott project. The illustrations were quite good and went with the text nicely.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read to my son.
Quite a few familiar, but an awful lot I'd never heard before.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many fond memories of my grandmother reciting these nursery rhymes to me. This is a classic and should be in every book room in every elementary school.

[Jacki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book features the original Mother Goose poems from 1944 with newly illustrated images. Each poem has an detailed drawing to accompany it; some of them are black and white and some are in color. The classics like “Ring-a-round-a roses” and “One two buckle my shoe” are featured, along with several other lesser known rhymes.

I was shocked to learn that these poems were as old as they are! This does explain, though, why many poems feature farm and outside work, with characters in older clothing. Children are often the focus of the poems (many of their names are prefaced with ‘Little’), whether it be helping outside or playing games like jumping over candlesticks. Because of the age of the poems, some of the words and grammar are hard to understand, making this book not fully appropriate for younger readers who don’t know the meanings.

[Kirsten Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caldecott Honor Book - 1945

Art medium used - pencil and watercolor

Alternating pages between black and white illustrations and color illustrations

A variety of Mother Goose rhymes - some familiar, some that are not

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet illustrations to this collection of nursery rhymes. This didn't have individual titles, but each rhyme was on its own page, so the separations were clear.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very delicate pastel pictures done with water colors and ink(?). Small book with 77 verses, very pretty.

Caldecott Award nominee 1945.