Tomie's Little Mother Goose (2025)

Tomie dePaola's artwork is in a genre all its own, with round heads and line-drawn figures that look like they might have been shaped from clay. This is a colorful collection of traditional Mother Goose rhymes, perfect for the transition from the toddler stage in which the book is more of a toy, to the read-aloud stage, even if the child doesn't understand everything being read. Mother Goose has the advantage of being lyrical and rhythmic, and many of the rhymes have tunes. As children get older they will also acquire a bit of cultural literacy, since phrases from Mother Goose often appear in literature and other kinds of discourse.

This volume don't include all the verses to different rhymes, but rather introduces the most-recognized refrain of each one. The cadence changes quickly from rhyme to rhyme, and the rhymes that are songs are interspersed well among those that are spoken, providing the best advantage to entice a very young child to sit still. A good choice for a gift or for your own child.

I won't lie until I read this to my daughter, I didn't realize how many nursery rhymes from my childhood were Mother Goose. I was just taught them, and they stuck!

“Adorable.”

Ages 3-5. Because this is a board book, this is a much-abbreviated version of classic Mother Goose tales. When I first started reading it, I felt a little confused and wondered if my confusion was due to the fact that this was a shortened version. I picked up the complete version from the public library the following day, and while that version did provide more Mother Goose rhymes, it did not provide any more clarity on the meaning of the rhymes. After the comparison was verified, I went into the reading of this collection with an open mind (and less critical vision). The verdict: it’s an adorable collection that achieves the goal I think it originally set out to do: introduce rhyme and stories without too deep of meanings to children.

The illustrations in this small Mother Goose companion are cute. I was unfamiliar with dePaola’s work prior to reading this collection, and according to, well, the internet he is one of the better Mother Goose illustrators. While most times the illustrations did enhance the reading of the story, other times I still found myself just as confused. On some pages, it appeared that they (the publisher? dePaola himself?) tried to jam too many rhymes onto one page to save space. I think stories like this would be best digested by younger children (the intended audience) one at a time, and instead in some places as many as 3 rhymes were featured on a single board page.

On its second reading, I can understand the timeless allure of Mother Goose. As I continued my reading, I found that I actually knew many of these rhymes by heart without realizing they were Mother Goose tales (I blame my own ignorance and my hippie parents’ choices of alternative children’s books).

dePaola, Tomie. Tomie’s Little Mother Goose. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1985.

A board book full of mother goose nursery rhmes. simply printed and easy to follow. baby and up

One of my son's favorites!

The pictures were interesting, but mom thought some of the rhymes were different than she remembered and she also found a spelling error! Also, I got bored by the end.

good collection of nursery rhymes. all have pictures to go with it. I've read lots of mother goose books, this one has a good variety and cute pictures, so better than most, but I'm not rushing out to buy the book... and in actually not putting it on my wish list either. (that's probably because I have a book that was given to me with more nursery rhymes in it, but this one is a board book, so if you want to buy one, this is a good one).

DePaola's drawings are legendary and delightful. This collection of nursery rhymes is a good mix of the best of Mother Goose. The rhymes flow together nicely making it good read out loud book for the littlest ones. Toddlers will still enjoy the rhymes and the pictures offer just the amount of bold color and movement.

Old Mother Goose arrives when the sun is bright and when the stories rhymes have been told she leaves in the moonlight. Lots of well told rhymes are included such as: Humpty Dumpty, Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffet, and Three little kittens.

Kudos to this book for excluding the more violent Mother Goose rhymes, rendering it more appropriate for the boardbook-reading population.

An oldie but a goodie.

A small number of traditional Mother Goose rhymes with unique artwork. It's cute, and that's about it.

This is a great book that includes a lot of favorite nursery rhymes. My students love to listen to these and chime in when they can.

Weak versions of great stories.

The kids love it...so long as you sing the rhymes. Otherwise, gtfo.

Decent selection of Mother Goose rhymes. Some have slightly strange wording (compared to how mom learned them). Baa baa Black Sheep is our favorite

Lots of short rhymes in a little book.