A Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes – Reviewed by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

 

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A Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes

Illustrated by Salley Mavor; Houghton Mifflin, 2010. 64 pages; $21.99 (hardback); reading level: ages 2-6.

The artwork for this nursery rhyme collection is stunning. Mavor has lovingly stitched a variety of materials (acorn caps, stones, driftwood, buttons) onto wool felt to create scenes which were then photographed. The result is a tiny, almost touchable world that seems all-of-a-piece: John (who “went to bed with his trousers on”) sleeps in the attic while Jack Sprat and his wife eat their fat and lean on the floor below and Jerry Hall (who “is so small”) sits in the yard outside. The baker’s man (of “pat-a-cake” fame) lives next to cobbler, cobbler (“mend my shoe”) who lives next to Polly (who needs to “put the kettle on”). The rhymes range from the familiar to the not so well known and an index of first lines is appended. This is not so much a book to read as an enchanting world to visit…over and over again.

A Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes was recently purchased at The Blue Marble Children’s Bookstore by Connie