Book Title: The Neighborhood Mother Goose
Author & Photographer: Nina Crews
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Copyright Date: 2004
Genre: Folklore – Nursery Rhyme (Mother Goose)
Brief Annotation: This is a contemporary twist on traditional Mother Goose nursery rhymes. The rhymes, some very familiar and some more obscure, are unchanged, but the presentation has a different look than you may be used to seeing with Mother Goose rhymes. The book is filled with color photographs of children from around the author’s Brooklyn neighborhood.
Your Rating (1-5) and why: 2 – I didn’t really care for this presentation of Mother Goose rhymes. I appreciate the author’s attempts to bring a contemporary, updated perspective to these traditional rhymes. I can see the potential benefits of making them more relatable, by using photographs and including children of all different race and ethnicities. However, I found the photographs to be boring. Perhaps it’s partly that I’m used to seeing illustrations accompany these rhymes, and I enjoy the magical world you can create through illustrations. But I suspect that children wouldn’t be easily drawn to the photographs in this book either. And more so, they wouldn’t be interested in returning and returning to this book.
Readers who will like this book: Really young readers who are interested in the lyrical sounds of the rhymes and who aren’t as aware or interested in connecting the words to pictures may enjoy the photographs more.
Teaching Strategy from Yopp & Yopp: Contrast Charts (p. 90); Because this version of Mother Goose rhymes is presented in a unique, contemporary way using neighborhood photographs, you could read/show students Crew’s version and also read/show a more whimsical, illustrated version. You could then have the students compare and contrast the two presentations of the books. You could have them list the differences and similarities, talk about what they like and don’t like about each of them and why, and which one they would recommend to a friend and why.
Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: This book is called The Neighborhood Mother Goose, who do you think Mother Goose is?
Interest Level (age): 5-7
Grade Level Equivalent (grade): 1.8
List awards: ALA Notable Book
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