Poetry Friday: Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose

Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Harcourt, 2007 (978-0-15-205676-6) $17.00

A string of anthropomorphic numbers merrily beboppin' across the end pages sets the tone for this deliciously nonsensical Mother Goose collection. All of the rhymes include numbers, from the well-known "Baa baa black sheep" to more obscure verses like "1-ery, 2-ery, tickery, 10," but it's not really a counting book--in fact, young children who truly want to count may find some of the longer numbers a bit frustrating. (Four and twenty very thin hairs in a wig, for example.) Mostly this book is about imaginative images and movement: the strange, often masked characters cavort across the pages almost as if in a whimsical parade. A clock strikes its own bell, fish strut in boots, potatoes dance in fezzes, the four-and-twenty blackbirds willingly trot into the pie. Except for a few bright splashes, the color scheme is largely muted, as if to keep all the attention on the odd inhabitants of this friendly world. The effect is very engaging, for both young and adult readers. * (2 & up)