The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense. Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by Julia Rothman. 2022. [October] 80 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, and all the King's men,
Cannot put Humpty together again.
So Dada Geese decided to help...
Premise/plot: How absurd can a collection of already slightly-absurd classic Mother Goose rhymes get? Extremely absurd in the hands of "Dada Geese" aka Jon Scieszka. He's no stranger to absurd twists-and-turns, the "fracturing" of the familiar.
Six classic rhymes get "fractured" or "spun." Each of the six get fractured six times. (So thirty-six new rhymes in all.)
These six include:
Humpty Dumpty
Jack Be Nimble,
Hey Diddle, Diddle
Old Mother Hubbard
Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
My thoughts: This one is supposedly/allegedly inspired by "dadaism." (Kids probably won't know, won't care. Though I could be wrong. I certainly wouldn't have cared as a kid so long as I got a giggle or two from the book.) What I did appreciate as an adult reader was the back matter. *Some* of the new poems get a little extra explanation or footnote, if you will. (Like the morse code alphabet.)
The book is definitely odd/whimsical/absurd. That was the aim, and it succeeded.
I personally don't know *who* the perfect, target audience is. While the original Mother Goose or Real Mother Goose might have been for toddlers, preschoolers, the very young...this book is decidedly not for that young an audience.
For me, it was very hit or miss. I liked "Computer Translation Telephone" as a retelling of Humpty Dumpty. But Humpty Dumpty censored, well, I'm sure some will find it hilarious, but it wasn't me.
© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers
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