The Neighborhood Mother Goose

Nina Crews puts a new twist on original Mother Goose poetry. The poems themselves are not altered but what makes it unique is that the illustrations are set in modern-day Brooklyn. The fanciful photographic collages of energetic children outside parks, shoe stores, and markets provide a backdrop to the verses, and it works: the pulse of urban life and the movement of the children accentuates the rhythmic qualities of the rhymes and breathes new life into them.

The photo-collages effectively convey an alive urban mother goose with a hidden picture feel. Inspired from her Brooklyn neighborhood, the pages are full of families and imagery that many city kids can relate to.

This highly creative book is set in Brooklyn, NY with the play time of neighborhood children. Multicultural, the images are not illustrations as I think of them, rather this is composed of photographs of children playing with the background of Mother Goose rhymes. Not all the rhymes seemed to match the photos.

I obtained it from my local library because it seemed very unique.

"The neighborhood Mother Goose" is a modern fable the reintegrates the familiar nursery rhymes with a realistic twist. The picture display real children and them retelling them in the story. It really takes you back to primary school.

Nina Crews’ The Neighborhood Mother Goose is not your typical Mother Goose book. Crews uses her Brooklyn neighborhood to bring the age-old rhymes alive to young readers. A delightfully refreshing and different approach to the typical cutesy pictures that usually accompany the Mother Goose books, Crews uses pictures of real people and places in the Brooklyn neighborhood, along with some superimposed pictures (like a cow jumping over a moon), to create images for her readers. All pictures are in color and contain very bright images to engage the reader/listener. There are a total of 44 nursery rhymes, most typical, “Jack be Nimble” and “Jack and Jill”, along with a few unfamiliar, “Lucy Locket” and Three Wisemen of show more Gotham”. When comparing this version of Mother Goose to that of Here Comes Mother Goose, illustrated by Rosemary Wells, it is quite inspirational to see how the old can become new again. While both books offer the beloved nursery rhymes, the uniqueness of the pictures in this book are well worth a look. show less

This book is all the old mother goose poems with real life pictures portraying the poems in it. I think any mother goose poem is fun, but when there are real life pictures with it I think it squashes the creativeness in the children.

Doug Hansen’s Mother Goose in California and Nina Crews’ The Neighborhood Mother Goose change the traditional setting of the classic collection of children’s rhymes to correspond (potentially) with a locale familiar to readers. Each book accomplishes this in a very different manner. Crews is known for her effective use of photography to illustrate children’s books. Neighborhood Mother Goose is likewise illustrated with photographs—showing ethnically diverse children re-enacting the rhymes in urban settings—sometimes through natural play and sometimes through dress-up. Inspired by her Brooklyn neighborhood, Crews gives children from different ethnic groups a Mother Goose book to which they might more easily relate. The show more photographs appear dated and the quality is below 21st century high resolution standards.There is a handy table of contents and the author addresses which version of Mother Goose rhymes she has used on the verso page. An ALA Notable Children’s Book of 2005. Ages Preschool-7.

Hansen has illustrated his book with iconography of California. In his introduction, he describes his native state as having rich geographic diversity and “drama” rich enough to give his Mother Goose a unique, western flair. The drawings are rendered in a traditional style, yet depict some unmistakable California sites (the Golden Gate Bridge, craftsman bungalows, Hearst Castle). Horn Book reviewed the book as being best suited for tourist shops, but I think fourth grade students would enjoy finding the California features while revisiting some rhymes. There is a wonderful key at the back of the book detailing the California components on each page—native plants, wildlife, regions, buildings, etc. Hansen’s book is also an alphabet book. Each rhyme has a random word in boldface type, which corresponds to a letter of the alphabet. To represent the letter “G”, for example, “garden” in Mary, Mary quite contrary, How does your garden grow is printed in boldface. This layer gives the book “too much to do”, and distracts from its charming California theme, compared to the simpler The Neighborhood Mother Goose. However, it works on several levels, whereas Crews' book is suited for a narrower age span.No awards could be found. Ages Preschool-9.

Hansen, D. (2009). Mother Goose in California. Berkeley, Calif: Heyday Books.

Crews, N. (2004). The neighborhood Mother Goose. New York: Greenwillow Books. show less