Mother Goose Forever

Here's my son's review of a new Mother Goose book:
Mceldery Book of Mother Goose

I’ve never heard a lot of poems in there.

My least favorite poem was “Ten Little Penguins.”

I almost liked it.

I didn’t like the subtraction.

The worst was when 8 became 7. 
I asked him why that was the worst, and he said
"because he never went home from Devon."
My twelve year old son reads and rereads Mother Goose
in lots of different editions, including a great big omnibus 
of hundreds of verses, yet this volume contained ones
new to him. This is what he told me:
"It starts with a little pig wanting to hear all the news,
and at the end he's heard all the news.
And this must be the news:
Alphabet and then A Wise Old Owl .  .  ."
I have mixed feelings about this continued fascination.
The rhymes and meter give him great satisfaction,
but the nonsensical content yields little useful information, 
and there's scant likelihood of this being a shared interest 
with a peer.
I'm a great believer in letting kids read what they enjoy, 
but is there a limit? What do you think?
Of course if your child is six or younger, this is a delightful book. A few of the poems go grim, but only the most 
sensitive kids will worry about poor Judy's black eye, or 
Betty Pringle who died because her pig did.
The collection includes several of my seldom seen favorites, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" and "There Was an Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket."

"Oh, that I were where I would be;

Then would I be where I am not.

But where I am, there must I be,

And where I would be, I cannot."

For even more about this book, check out the New York Times review