Amazon.com Review
Cackle, cackle Mother Goose,
Have you any feathers loose?
Truly have I, pretty fellow,
Half enough to fill a pillow.
Here are quills, take one or two
And down to make a bed for you.
For over three centuries, Mother Goose has delighted children with nonsense rhymes, cautionary tales, and singsong verses. With the many renderings of Mother Goose that have appeared over the years, it's hard to imagine a strikingly original version. Yet with Mother Goose Remembers, Clare Beaton strides into entirely new territory. Selecting many of her own childhood favorites, Beaton illustrates them with her hand-sewn designs, using antique fabrics, felt, beads, braids, lace, buttons, and bric-a-brac. The result is a truly charming treasury of poignantly old-fashioned portrayals of "The Queen of Hearts," "To Market, to Market," "Polly Put the Kettle On," "Little Jack Horner," and heaps more. The downy illustrations seem to leap out at the reader, who will want to touch the paper just to be sure it's not actually made of fabric and gewgaws. The title of each rhyme is sewn onto the soft-colored background in big, loose stitches, evoking bygone days when a child's education included embroidery and recitations. Onto each scene floats a single stitched feather for young readers to discover, providing a fun challenge as they "fill" a goose-down pillow for bedtime. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter