Mother Goose Treasury by Parragon Books illustrated by Priscilla Lamont

So historically I haven't always been able to make up my mind on Mother Goose rhymes, but after listening to some of the Stories are Soul Food podcast where Nate Wilson was talking (in one of the early eps) about the importance of rhyming books in developing a good ear for rhythm & for future storytelling etc., I got thinking on it again.

Children need imagination food cultivating that sense of wonder & fostering the ability to see the world inside out and upside down and right side up. A sense of fitness and unfitness, and the absurdity and hilarity often popping between the two. Also ingraining the feel -- from even an early age -- of the rough edges of things.

And I think all of that is something these early rhymes can uniquely supply.

I really like the illustrations in this copy, sweetly and seamlessly flowing between people in Victorian garb and then tennis shoes. (I know that sounds corny but they actually do a really cute job.)

There have to be 150+ rhymes, but my four year old loved it & we read the entire thing in one sitting. And that's a big win, so yay! (I only had to modify one very slightly, where I thought the older word choice of "pretty" would have been better served by using "fine" & then I actually just opted to say "lazy" cause that's what it was getting at. ;))

Anyway, happy to find this one and highly recommend!