I recently had a little visitor. A 4 year old niece, who had come to visit for a few days with her mother, who was here on office work. she was a bit apprehensive with burdening me with taking care of her daughter, but I was happy to volunteer. It has been a whole 8 years since my daughter had been this adorable age, but I was sure we’d do fine together.
And we did. Other than the usual chatter, artwork, playing in the park, etc., I fell back on my trusty books. One book, in particular, captured the little one’s interest. This one.
A Child’s Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.
Compiled and illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton. Published by Kingfisher. Comes with a CD of all the songs and rhymes, a total of 75.
The dedication says: For the children now who will grow up in the 21st century. True to this, the collection has old favourites that most of us know, along with lesser known ones that are equally, if not more wonderful, sourced from places other than the traditional English – not just other European languages, but also other cultures. Songs not originally in the Queen’s language are translated to fit in seamlessly with the mood of the book, with credit to the source.
The songs and rhymes are grouped in sections. For babies, toddlers, for young school-going childen, and the 4th for everyone. There are simple action songs, lullabies, soothing songs, as well as simple poems like The Three Little Kittens, A Was An Applepie, This is the House that Jack Built, and The Owl and the Pussycat. There are also some poems by celebrated poets – like this one by Christina Rossetti. Some are rhymes known to most only by the first few lines, of which the book includes the complete version – one such is Rock-a-bye baby.
My daughter’s favourite here was this tongue twister:
Moses supposes his toeses are roses,
But Moses supposes erroneously
For nobody’s toeses are posies of roses
As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
My favourite was this one, sourced from Ghana:
Listen to the tree bear
Crying in the night
Crying for his mammy
In the pale moonlight.
What will his mammy do
When she hears him cry?
She’ll tuck him in a cocoa pod
And sing a lullaby.
Along with the singalong CD, and the lovely water colour pictures on each page, this is a wonderful addition to a child’s library, and will last her a long, long time, until she’s grown up enough to move on. Sometimes never, for it is a priceless as a heirloom too – my daughter intends keeping it for her children.
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