A nice fractured fairy tale that basically entails a lot of moving by various fairy tale characters. The lesson that is wrapped up in the story is one of appreciating what you have when you have it. It's not so very different from the famous quote from the 1939 movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz; there's no place like home. ( )

Zalben, J. B. (2005). Hey, mama goose. New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books.

Zalben and Chollat integrate various nursery rhymes into one story, creating Hey, Mama Goose. In this story, Mama Goose is a real estate agent who helps the Old Woman who lives in a Shoe find a bigger house. However, this home happens to belong to Snow White. This event then forces Snow White out of her home and into Rapunzel’s castle. There Snow White rents a room from a gnome. Then Rumpelstiltskin decides to move into Hansel and Gretel’s cottage. As the story continues, readers encounter all the major nursery rhyme characters.

Hey, Mama Goose is a fun twist on a traditional nursery rhyme. Young children will giggle as one of the three little pigs kisses Sleeping Beauty; the three bears sell their famous hot porridge from a stand; and Hansel and Gretel snack on lettuce. The illustrations are bright and full of color. They go well with this lighthearted story.

However, children might not understand how this story makes fun of traditional nursery rhymes. Thus they will probably need to know the endings of traditional nursery rhymes first before reading Hey, Mama Goose.

Imagine every fairy tale happening at the same time, all intermingled, with Mama Goose as your realtor. And throw in a bit of "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" kind of message. That is this book. ( )