ABSTRACT
Nursery rhyme or ‘Mother Goose’ collections include a large number of forms: lullabies and songs, counting and alphabet rhymes, clapping, bouncing and dancing games, riddles, proverbs and nonsense rhymes. An important feature of nursery rhymes is their brevity, which makes them manageable units of language that can be enjoyed, remembered and resavoured by the youngest age group. The quality of collections of nursery rhymes and nonsense poems is to do with how well the design, coverage, language and illustration work together to make for a coherent volume. Cathy MacLennan’s Chicky Chicky Chook Chook uses language play to show the joyful aspects of the natural world in summer. Riddles and proverbs are short, pithy language forms. Riddles are often in rhyming question and answer form. Children use riddles in the street and playground but often call them jokes.
