Divided into the types of games parents and children can play as they read these rhymes, this collection focuses on lifting, bumping, wiggling, clapping and pantomiming motions. With directions for play, brief historical notes, music for piano and guitar and many of the more obscure rhymes, this is a comprehensive collection. Yolen’s introduction states that, “The lap is a kind of schoolroom. What a child learns there is learned forever.” In this case, they will learn not only the familiar, but some British and European rhymes, little-known to the American mom or dad, but good for playing games similar to the recognizable ones. Hillenbrand’s illustrations are a delight, featuring a largely porcine cast, soft colors and playful borders echoing the monkey business within. A 15-minute CD of selected songs arranged and performed by Jeff Waxman is included. With so much vibrant and fun music out there for kids now, this CD is a disappointment by being neither. If comprehensiveness is a consideration, this is a must for a collection. (Picture book. 1-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-1348-7
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear ($9.95; Jun. 30; 24 pp.; 0-694-01162-2): This Growing Tree entry has an easy, familiar verse, and Scott makes sure that even the youngest toddler will be able to follow the actions of a boy and his teddy bear as they touch, dance, point, jump, bow, run, and prepare for bed. Friendly, rounded characters and bold, solid colors combine with firm lines and shapes to strong and simple effect. Children will chant and gesture along with this uncomplicated bedtime rhyme. (Board book. 2-3)
Pub Date: June 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-694-01162-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
While there’s rhyme, this text lacks reason.
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)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4036-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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