Mother Goose Voices with a Twist
by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Jane Yolen
illustrated by Angela Matteson
WordSong, 2016
ISBN 978-1590788677 (hardcover)

Poets Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich take fourteen Mother-Goose rhymes that have been enjoyed by generations of children and twist them in ways sure to delight modern kids. These poem pairs feature wildly different voices and perspectives, and Angela Matteson’s stunning illustrations add further hilarious details. So while Humpty Dumpty’s classmate explains why he’s sitting in time-out again, Matteson’s art shows Humpty Dumpty as a daredevil skateboarder teetering on a wall. The poems have strong rhythm and rhyme, making Grumbles from the Town a terrific read-aloud. This lavish volume includes the original Mother Goose rhymes, endnotes that briefly describe their history, and an introduction that invites readers to imagine their own poems from unusual perspectives and “create magic.”