The Real Dada Mother Goose by Jon Scieszka

In The Real Dada Mother Goose, popular humorist Jon Scieszka subjects familiar nursery rhymes to every possible variation.

The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Julia Rothman. Candlewick, 72 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades ages 8-10

Recommended for: ages 8-14

“Dada is creating art with humor and absurdity to challenge what many people might think is right or normal.” That’s Jon Scieszka’s definition, and it’s the mildest interpretation of an art movement, dating from the turn of the 20th century, that has been profoundly subversive. Dada, along with other art forms like Theater of the Absurd, taught the art world that nothing was of lasting value and anything could be mocked. Frances Schaeffer had nothing good to say of it, but . .  . why not have a little fun with nursery rhymes?

Schieszka takes six traditional Mother Goose rhymes and subjects each one to multiple treatments. I.e., Humpty Dumpty at the most boring, as a postcard from camp, as a string of definitions (fall: sudden uncontrollable descent). Or send Humpty Dumpty through a gossip chain of successive translations. Other rhymes take the form of madlib, book report, comic strip, recipe, news article, knock-knock joke, pig-Latin, rebus puzzle, and on and on.

Illustrations are mashups from Blanche Fisher Wright’s The Real Mother Goose, published in1916—you’ll recognize them immediately, even as they are cut-and-pasted, marked on, disconnected, and recombined. Overall Schieszka’s dada treatment provides a humorous tour through the many varieties of human communication: not just language, but morse code and number combinations. An appendix provides explanation for more obscure forms like Esperanto and spoonerism. It’s harmless fun, and might be a good way to introduce the concept of dada.

Overall Rating: 4

Worldview/moral value: 3.5

Artistic/literary value: 4

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Also at Redeemed Reader:

Reflection: Read Gladys Hunt’s thoughts about nursery rhymes.

Reflection: See our thoughts on “Twisting Mother Goose,” with a short list of best-selling Mother-Goose compendiums.

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