‘The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea green boat’ are the opening lines of the much loved poem The Owl and the Pussy Cat, one of the many, many favourite nursery rhymes and poems to be discovered or re-discovered, in this beautifully bound and illustrated Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and Poems.
Fran Preston-Gannon has created beautiful illustrations to grace the pages and frame many of the traditional rhymes we all grew up with, love to share and rediscover over the years. As timeless as they have always been, grandparents have shared them with their grandchildren, as have parents to their young babies and children down through the centuries, with pieces such as Bobby Shaftoe and My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean originally being written as a means to pass the news of the day.
From the simple but lovely ‘There was a little girl……..to the giggly favourite Round and Round the Garden and the very active Head and shoulders, knees and toes there is fun to be had on each page. Songs have also been included such as She’ll be comin’ round the mountain, beloved of children of yesteryear and there to be discovered by the new generations.
Many of the traditional rhymes have not always been just for fun, but were created for a very good reason: Ring-a-ring o’ Roses was about the Black Plague which killed many in 1665. Jack Be Nimble was a little ditty believed to be about Black Jack the pirate and his ability to mysteriously avoid being captured.
Mockingbird became a popular song and Old Macdonald was and is a favourite sung and loved by tiny tots to school children. Many of the pieces that make up the book are from around the world and for even the most keen teller of tales large and small, there is something new, another rhyme or poem to be discovered to enjoy and pass on to little ones for many years to come.
Bound in a hard cover with a wrap- around dust jacket, A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and Poems built around the work of award winning illustrator Fran Preston-Gannon is a glorious, rich collection of favourites and fresh new pieces destined to be considered as a firm family treasure for years to come, designed to enchant little ones and return ‘older’ ones down memory lane, even if just for a little while.
