Caldecott Honor

I've loved Tudor's illustrations since I was a child and her pictures were in my copy of my then favorite book, The Secret Garden. ?áI am so glad that the library in Hawthorne NV held onto this book so I could revel in the nostalgia of her art and these old familiar rhymes. ?áWhat's surprising me is how many of these rhymes are new to me. ?áTo me, and avid reader of Mother Goose books for children, and of scholarly books analyzing the histories of nursery rhymes! ?áFor that reason alone I highly recommend this book. ?áI also appreciate that my edition, at least, is well designed, with one rhyme per picture per page (mostly), and the whole thing small enough to fit a toddler's hands. ?áThe pictures are mostly simple, and only about 1/2 are colored, but that's actually impressive for ?á1944. ?áOh, and even the familiar rhymes are often illustrated with a twist: for example, the old woman's shoe full of children is not a high top ankle boot, but is an upside-down brogue... much more sensible! ( )

This traditional tale is a series of nursery rhymes.
It would be fun to share with young children for them to pass along.
This would be best for grades Pre-K to 1.

Tudor, T. (1971). Mother Goose: seventy-seven verses with pictures. New York: Random House. (Original work published 1944).
Age: 2 to 8 years old
Tasha Tudor’s Mother Goose collection combines well-known and more obscure rhymes with a very traditional approach. For each rhyme, Tudor creates an illustration to represent the most important action in the story. Some rhymes are illustrated with cherub-like children while other illustrations add a touch of humor to the scene with characters with exaggerated features like caricatures. Tudor maintains the integrity of the original text even if this means keeping the more violent imagery. One big drawback is the lack of diversity among her characters. The original copyright date from 1944 explains why all characters are white, rosy-cheeked people and the greatest element of diversity is that some of them have dark hair. Still, this is a beautifully illustrated book that remains true to the original Mother Goose rhymes.