The Ukraine's Mother Goose
Babushka's Mother Goose by Patricia Polacco
Patricia Polacco is an author with an appreciation of both heritage and oral tradition. Many of her books draw upon real events in her family or personal history-books such as Pink and Say, The Butterfly, Mrs. Mack, Thank You Mr. Falker, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, and The Keeping Quilt. Others draw upon her Ukrainian and Russian heritage, such as Luba and the Wren, Babushka's Doll, Babushka's Baba Yaga, and Rechenka's Eggs.Babushka's Mother Goose pays tribute to both Polacco's personal history and her family heritage. In the beginning of this picture book, she tells us that her Ukrainian Babushka used to tell her poems and fairy tales. They were a mix of traditional poems and ones that she adapted from the folklore of other countries to have more of a Ukrainian flair to them. Polacco collected many of those poems, setting them down in writing and then illustrating them with her beautiful water color paintings.
The 24 poems and rhymes are equally fun as they range from ones I'd never heard before to thinly veiled adaptations of other stories. For example, there is the old woman who lives in a boot rather than a shoe. The story of the mitten in which all the animals crowd in and try to live becomes a flower pot. That poem ends with a large bear who takes all of the animal friends into his home as he is impressed with their kind hearts and willingness to share even after the pot gets very, very crowded.
My husband and I used several of the rhymes in this book with our kindergarten drama class. They had fun with the rhyming names-Babushka, Diadushka-as well as playing with the entertaining and absurd events. (They especially liked getting in a long congo line in order to try to pull the turnip out of the ground.) It was also easier to capture their attention with these poems than with traditional Mother Goose rhymes as they were familiar enough to keep them comfortable but new enough to keep them alert and listening.
They also greatly appreciated the detailed paintings that were filled with as much of the activity of the rhyme as Polacco could fit on her spreads. The paintings and illustrations make up some of the greatest charm of this collection. She uses bright colors that are heavy in reds, purples, and whites. The feel of the art is very Ukrainian and Russian while still being very Polacco in style.
It is this freshness combined with a highly traditional children's literature form that makes Babushka's Mother Goose attractive. The poems are carefully selected from Polacco's memory-selections of those rhymes which were most fun and memorable to her as a child. It is a book that is free of the gloom and sadness that permeates many of her books and instead is pure fun.
