The Inner City Mother Goose - Hardcover

Merriam, Eve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689806779 ISBN 13: 9780689806773

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1996

Synopsis

Commenting on political and social issues related to the conditions of the inner city and inner city life, provocative new versions of the classic Mother Goose rhymes, originally published in 1969, are accompanied by new full-color illustrations by the Caldecott Medalist for Smoky Night.

About this title

From Booklist:

Gr. 9^-12. Anyone who thinks that "inner city" and "Mother Goose" are incompatible hasn't read a good collection of the rhymes to a child at bedtime and wondered, "Maybe I should skip this one . . ." These traditional rhymes have been violent from the beginning, and their origins often lay in social commentary. The Inner City Mother Goose makes no pretense of appealing to children. Someday, perhaps, the rhymes' biting, ironic commentary will be so far removed from reality that they become nonsense, but that day seems no closer than it was 27 years ago when the first edition of The Inner City Mother Goose was published as an adult book. The 1970 Booklist review called its verse "lacerating little rhymes, worlds removed in mood and content from the traditional Mother Goose poems." Most of the verses were illustrated with striking, gritty black-and-white photographs.

Now published as a young adult book, the new edition includes a number of poems written after the first. It also omits several from the original book. Acrylic paintings by Caldecott-winner David Diaz illustrate 10 of the verses. Although the more sophisticated art in the first edition may actually have greater appeal to young adults, Diaz's small, intense paintings create portraits rich in composition, color, and gesture. The images, almost mythic in their sense of representing more than individual people, seem to move with the rhythm of the verse.

No matter which illustrations the reader prefers, the power is in the poetry. As in any collection, some of the poems are better than others. As in any parody, knowledge of the original adds greatly to a reading of the verses. Still, the poems come together, uneven but undeniably powerful. They make their statements in different ways, with different tones, all contributing to a chorus that comes through loud and clear. When they first appeared, these poems sounded modern in spite of their nursery rhyme inspiration. They still do.

Merriam's introduction to the second edition (1982) is reprinted here. In it, Merriam comments that the book became "just about the most banned book in the country," with most of the criticism centering on one vulgar word, though broadening into more general charges that seemed to confuse cause and effect. Some of the poems concern aspects of our society, such as violence, racism, and corruption, that most of us prefer to leave in darkness. Instead, the poetry occasionally flashes like summer lightning, suddenly illuminating what we would rather not see and exposing our fears in its swift, cold light.

Whatever its history, and wherever librarians choose to shelve it, this book belongs in libraries: not because it mimics Mother Goose, not because it stirs controversy, but because it speaks with such clarity and in such an unexpected form. Carolyn Phelan

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up?Once upon a time?in 1969?the prolific, insightful Merriam penned these prophetically painful words. Fortunately for readers, they are still available. Unhappily ever after, however, they still ring disarmingly true. Originally written as a form of social and political commentary, the book was reprinted in 1982 and greeted with much controversy. The words are hard, honest, and, at times, harsh. The poetry is given fresh and updated verve with bold, multicultural illustrations by Diaz and an introduction by Nikki Giovanni. The Inner City Mother Goose travels to the place many fear to tread?and records the anger, agony, and angst present in everyday life. Unemployment, housing woes, drugs, violence, corruption, and neglect are presented in solid, rhythmic lines like "Now I lay me down to sleep/ I pray the double lock will keep," and "There was a crooked man,/ And he did very well." If Merriam thought her lines were appropriate in 1969, she would be saddened to know of their expanded meaning today. Giovanni's introduction leaves readers with perhaps the best reason to read and reread these lines? "Sticks and stones are easily forgotten; it is the words that stay with us."?Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0689806779
• ISBN 13: 9780689806773
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Diaz David