James Marshall’s Mother Goose

Title:  James Marshall’s Mother Goose

Author: James Marshall

Illustrator: James Marshall

Publisher: Sunburst

Genre:  Mother Goose

Level: Primary

Number of Pages: 34

Pub. Date: 1979

Summary:  This is a collection of Mother Goose Rhymes that appeal to the humorous side. It includes well known verses and some other funny ones. There are classic characters like Old King Cole, Old Mother Hubbard, Peter Pumpkin eater, Poll Parrot and Elsie Marley. The book uses different colored borders to keep the verses organized with each illustration.

Critique: This Mother Goose book is visually interesting with lots of humorous illustrations. There is an illustration for each rhyme and some have multiple illustrations. The text is limited on each page, making it

easy for young readers and there seems to be a good balance between rhymes I know and rhymes I’ve never heard before. The downfalls are that it doesn’t have an index or title page so that favorites can be indentified and it doesn’t represent diverse cultures. Most of the characters are white if they aren’t animals.

Response: My favorite rhyme in this book is the one that goes, ‘this little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home…” because it reminds me of my childhood. I remember when my dad used to pick up my feet and start saying the rhyme and he would wiggle each of my toes with the rhyme until it was over then he would tickle me all over!