The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense

This book is simply not interesting. Infantile junk, not cerebral fun rhymes. I'll donate it somewhere.

What worked:Scieszka is known for twisting familiar stories into unexpected, hilarious retellings and this book is written in the same spirit. It’s similar to The Stinky Cheese Man in that it creates new variations of many tales although it’s more directed at upper elementary students. The author doesn’t necessarily change the stories overall but he presents them in different formats. Humpty Dumpty is retold using Morse Code, computer language translations, and in other ways. Old Mother Hubbard is presented in reverse, with new verb alternatives, and without vowels. The end result is a collection of amusing fairy tales and nursery rhymes that are sure to entertain.At the back of the book, readers will find useful, non-fiction references related to nonsense created by playing with familiar stories. One rhyme is modified using the military alphabet and is probably not familiar to young readers. The military uses the alphabet to clarify radio transmissions by spelling words with established terms to represent letters. Star is presented as Sierra for the letter S, Tango for T, Alpha for A, and Romeo for R. Other pages explain background information related to writing styles like haikus, spoonerisms, Jabberwocky, and something called N+7. Other pages describe how to write messages using simple codes.The pages are enhanced by colorful, illustrations drawn by Julia Rothman. Unusual images are created from Scieszka’s zany interpretations so the pictures help to visualize what’s happening. References to Old Mother Luvven and hickory, dickory, dolphin become easier to imagine using their accompanying graphics. The different illustrations for the different versions of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” are clearer when able to see the rebus, anagrams, and scientific description. The author’s hilarious retellings of familiar nursery rhymes are even better when displayed with the beautiful pictures.What didn’t work as well:The humor in this book differs from the author’s previous books so reader expectations need to be flexible. As mentioned, the wittiness comes from twisting how the stories are written more so than modifying the stories themselves. The book may tickle new funny bones, but it’s still very charming and comical.The Final Verdict:Once again, the author proves he’s a master of nonsense as he fractures familiar, beloved fairy tales for readers’ amusement. The book is sure to please young readers and I recommend you give it a shot.

This book makes linguistics, literary devices, and wordplay cool. Common nursery rhymes are revamped several times based on a style such as swapping the verbs, or playing telephone with language translation.Where the stinky cheese man was for first graders who find the words "stupid" and "fart" make a book funny, this book is for your 2nd-6th graders who understand (or are capable of understanding) codes, literary devices and parts of speech. Fear not, if they don't know something there is extensive (and also funny) back-matter and your kid will happily teach themselves about similes, morse code, invented languages and more.My boys (11,9,7) thoroughly enjoyed it, learned new things, and were not repeating potty-humor jokes all day (I only noticed one potty humor instance and it was buried in a backmatter example). The humor is clever and witty and the timing sells it well.

Let me say it LOUD…I LOVE THIS BOOK! I was really taken by surprise with each turn of the page. This is a wacky wordsmith’s take on the classic nursery rhymes that we grew up with. The rhymes are very clever and hilarious, keeping the reader turning page after page always wondering what will come up next. The different styles used to represent the rhymes, include so many twists and turns, such as, a Madlib, morse code, different languages, musical notation and even the military alphabet will elicit laughter, bursts of imagination and increased creativity. Teachers will also love this amazing book as each page is a new teaching opportunity. I also love that the illustrations incorporate and expand upon the original drawings from Blanche Fisher Wright's 1916 The Real Mother Goose. This helps to bring a lovely vintage essence to the rhymes. This book is laugh out loud funny and can be shared for years to come! My 21 year old language loving son will be receiving this under the Christmas tree-never too old for fun with linguistics.Thank you to Candlewick press for this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is one amazing book! Six classic nursery rhymes created in six different styles. Brilliant, gloriously illustrated and loads of fun. Teachers will love The Real Dada Mother Goose.