Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for Our Fragile Times... Book

In this irresistible book, artist and designer Barbara Klunder puts her own spin on familiar children’s favorites. Rock-a-Bye Baby laments the loss of her treetop to logging. Old Mother Hubbard must resort to a food bank. Jack and Jill discover their well water is polluted, while Mary watches her garden flourish with weeding and fertilizing. Second-hand smoke, recycling, allergies, logging, pollution, oil spills, gasoline shortages, and crooked politicians are all treated with Klunder’s typical whimsy and wit. Striking, graphic black-and-white illustrations drive the point home — what are humans doing to the planet?

Julie RoachCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up
"Twinkle, twinkle, little starlets/More and more resembling harlots/Up above the world so high-/Celebrity fame's the reason why." This small book takes 22 classic Mother Goose rhymes and twists them into political messages. Old Mother Hubbard seeks assistance from a food bank. Little Miss Muffet struggles with second-hand smoke. Jack and Jill's well water is polluted. And Little Bo-Peep is a sheep about to be cloned. Laden with such a spectrum of issues, the humor in the rhymes often feels somewhat forced. "Little Boy Blue/Come blow your horn!/What goes into the ground/Comes out in the corn." However, the well-done pen-and-ink illustrations on pale olive-green backgrounds bring out a dark humor and energy that is often deficient in the rhymes. Overall this book will work best with adults, teens, or sophisticated kids who can appreciate the satire.