Once upon a Rhyme By Carol Hosking

 

About Book

Title: Once upon a Rhyme
Author: Carol Hosking
Illustrator: Trevor Pye
Genre: Poetry, Nursery Rhyme, Children's Music 
Major Book Awards: No major book awards
Published: 2001
Recommended Age Range: 2 to 8
Appropriate Grade Levels: Pre-k to 4th Grade

Summary

This book by Carol Hosking covers the well-known nursery rhymes, that many children from over the world may know or have heard of. Ranging from Hickory, Dickory, Dock, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jack & Jill, and many more classic nursery rhymes from all over. From Africa to China and the Scandinavia, just to name a few. After each rhyme is told, the history behind it and how it came to be follows. For an example, in the nursery rhyme of Mary Had a Little Lamb, the book tells us that it is about a girl named Mary who took care of a sick lamb until it got better. Once the lamb got better, it followed her everywhere, even to school. The Ring around o' Roses rhyme from Europe was created because of the on going Great Plague. And at the end they "all fall down," meaning many people unfortunately died from this disease. The book also tells us why we all may remember rhymes differently, like the Incey Wincey Spider. This is because they were written in different scenarios from different people, telling different things.

Evaluation - Would I Incorporate this Book in the Classroom?

I genuinely enjoyed reading this book and singing along to the songs in my head. There were many rhymes that I know of and many that I've never heard of. It was nice to see different nursery rhymes from all over the world. As I was reading, I've also realized that the lyrics were different. But because of the book, I've learned that it was different because a lot of people added their way of singing the nursery rhyme. For an example, when I saw the Incey Wincey Spider in this book, it caught me off guard. Because when I was learning it growing up, I remember it being called the Itsey Bitsey Spider instead. This book was very informative and shared the history behind these many songs, which I feel would also be interesting for young children to learn about. This book can also be appropriate till 4th grade. I wouldn't necessarily do an activity from this book, but this will definitely be a fun read. Children can sing a long to the songs, as well as learn the history behind it. This book offers not only rhymes from America, but rhymes from Africa, China, Europe, Scandinavia, Hispanic, and Jewish rhymes. It'll be fun to expand children's knowledge with other popular nursery rhymes from all over the world.