The Cath in the Hat: Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children

Monday, July 25, 2011

Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children

Gum chewers, thieves, liars, cheats, some children are too naughty for Mother Goose to handle. So she ships these troublemakers off to her sister's school for wayward brats. Spinster Goose runs a tight ship and doesn't tolerate misbehavior.

The pinchers get pinched,
and the pokers get poked.
The biters get bit,
and the smokers get smoked.
The takers get taken.
The sordid get sore.
The shakers get shaken
right down to their core.

Lisa Wheeler has taken familiar rhymes from Mother Goose and subverted them. Readers will delight in finding their favorite characters in new guises. Mary still brings her lamb to school, but the young lady is a big fibber and claims her pet is a horse. Jack and Jill ditch class to climb that hill, and Little Miss Muffet dines on chalk, not curds and whey. All get their comeuppance. Sophie Blackall's sublime illustrations are worth the price of admission alone. She must have been channeling Edward Gorey when she drew her cast of ghastly characters. Great fun!