Nursery Rhymes Books

My grand-daughter really likes to listen to the CD and has begun to sing along. I think that's great. Book illustrations are fun, too.

My daughter is still an infant so we haven't used the book yet. The c.d. is great. Fun to listen to while playing.

I received my item within less than a week from ordering, and in perfect condition. I appreciate this excellent customerservice.

This is a quality production and I am enjoying learning the rhymes and teaching them to my 6 month old daughter. This is definitely a product for someone who already has a good understanding of French. It comes with a book with the French and there are translations and explanations (when appropriate) in the back. I did not give it 5 stars because I think it is a little difficult to use. The tracks are divided up into broad categories (By the River, In the Market) and there are several rhymes in each one which makes finding a particular rhyme more troublesome. It is difficult to listen to straight from beginning to end because the background music is repetitive. Also, there are many rhymes for older children, not just for babies so I am sorting through to find the ones that are appropriate for an infant. Overall, however, I am enjoying this product and would recommend it to a motivated francophile.

This book is primarily about rhyming, not necessarily about French language. I am surprised to see people discussing it as a way of learning to "speak" French -- as in, saying something useful or meaningful. The book's cover makes that claim, too. Shoppers should be wary of expecting too much from this book as an instructional tool.

This is an attractive, fun package. If you go through it you might pick up a smattering of French words, a few numbers and so on. But it is not organized with any kind of instructional strategy, and the contents are rather inconsistent.

What it mostly does is to lead you through a lot rhymes with cute or interesting sounds. Sure, some pages contain poems in genuine French. But many of the rhymes include nonsense words (as the authors admit) which do not mean anything in any language (like "Bourre et bourre et ratatam").

The book claims that many of these rhymes are used by French kids for picking sides in playground games, or the like. If so, that means that a lot of these pieces are the equivalent of "one potato, two potato" or "Eeny meeny miney moe" on an American playground. I can't imagine teaching the phrase "eeny meeny miney moe" to a French child as a first introduction to English.

One of the rhymes, according to the guide in the back of the book, supposedly teaches the pronunciation of the "U" sound in French. The only "teaching" involved is the child listening to the CD. If you want the child to be able to speak those words, you may have to teach them how to form the French U sound. The book doesn't do it.

Another poem playfully replaces "sept oies" with "c'est toi." Due to the use of liasons in spoken French, those phrases are homonyms. The whole rhyme builds up to that double-entendre, which is based on a uniquely French bit of phonics. So if the book were really trying to teach French, this would be a perfect opportunity to do so. But it doesn't even mention it, so non-French speakers will miss out on the pun entirely.

In another case, the authors claim that a rhyme supposedly demonstrates different ways of using the "R" sound in French. It does nothing of the kind. Over and over, I felt like the authors were attempting to claim more educational value for the material than it really has, while failing to use teaching opportunities that *were* available.

What value the material DOES have is that it is mostly fun, catchy little rhymes that kids will relate to, especially with the help of the cute illustrations in the book. I believe that the CD by itself would not be very successful at all, unlike some other products. And for parents who do not speak French, or have a French dictionary nearby, good luck. Some -- but not all -- of the material is translated into English in the back.

The accents sound authentic, and the recordings introduce each rhyme with a slow rendition first, then move up to "normal" speed, and repeat it yet another time. I think this is a good approach. The recordings mix an adult voice and some kids -- some other reviews mistakenly say it's all kids.

The child I'm using this with had already learned a few fundamentals in reading and speaking French, and that background definitely helped. So, as other reviewers have suggested, this book may ironically actually be more useful as something other than a "first" book, contrary to the suggestion of its title.

So: Fun, yes, but your child will still need to learn a lot more "real" French somewhere else.

I actually bought this for a gift because my daughter likes her copy so much. This is my favorite Boynton book.

Just a cute, silly, kinda pointless book about hippos and their love of their belly buttons.

My sister and I have taken to quoting this book at random intervals throughout the day. It grows on you. It's not as catchy as most of Boynton's work, but it definitely has its own charm.

We own many Boynton books and this is the least favorite. The story encourages toddlers to call their belly button's a nickname instead of its actual name, which I don't agree with.

My son does likes the pictures, but does not care to listen to the actual story like he does his other books.

Checked ths out at the library and loved it so much we bought it!

Cute and witty. Parent's don't miss the t-shirt texts and details kids will miss...

We all call our belly buttons "Bee-Boo"s now!

My daughter is only 4 months old, but, for some reason, she LOVES this book. We read together all the time, and we read many different books, but this is her favorite. When I get it out she wiggles and smiles. She loves to hold the side of the book and turn the pages. When I sing the little song near the end, she makes noise and sings along. We have so much fun reading this book. I saw that some reviewers were upset that the hippos wear "bathing suits too little". For goodness sake, these are drawings of hippos! It is funny! How are the hippos supposed to show off their belly buttons in a one-piece? :) We love this book. I think it's funny for both kids and parents. The drawings are very cute.

This is truly a wonderful collection of classic children stories if you want to have great variety but have space or money issues. As another reviewer stated, it's ideal for travel or to explore new children stories and decide which ones to buy in a separate and full edition.

However it's a pity that because of a space issue, they have decided to leave out some pictures. Also, I have seen other anthologies (e.g. Your favorite Seuss: A baker's dozen by the one and only Dr. Seuss) that have managed to join in one page spread several pictures of a storybook in a more coherent way... Here, in some of the stories they have done it nicely, in others (e.g. Good Night Moon) they have just pasted into a page spread several pages of the book in very small detail. It's a pity that they couldn't make the book a bit bigger and longer to include the pictures in greater detail, or that they didn't edit two separate volumes so that they could fit the stories better.

As a plus, the stories are color-coded and cover a great variety of age-ranges, so it's still a great travel book if you have children of very different ages.

All this said, this is still a great way of getting to know a big selection of children's classics. In my case, I don't live in an English-speaking country, so I have to deliver children books for my kid via air-mail and it would be impossible to get these many books in their individual editions, so I'm very grateful to the Editor for making this excellent collection of children stories readily available for everyone.

This book is an uncanny collection of most of our favorite children's stories that we have collected over the years plus many more we had not yet discovered. It's a great collection. The only downside of the collection is that the stories are displayed with several of the original "pages" per page which is distracting to young readers. They see the pictures from many pages at once while the parent tries to read the through the words left to right.

I received this book as a gift when my boys were 17 months old and 1 month old. The are now 2 and 3, and we still read from this book just about every day. The Table of Contents suggests age groups for each story, but I have found that my kids are pretty much up for any of them, even at a young age. This time I purchased it as a gift for someone else, and if Amazon continues to offer amazing prices on it ($27 instead of $40 at major bookstore) then I will buy it for everyone I know that has a child. It's one that your kids will never tire of (just keep it out of reach to keep in good condition, as they will want to flip through the picures on their own...).

What is more comforting to a child than being curled up in bed and having Mummy or Daddy reading a good story -- big story books are pages full of magic!

When my children were young we read from this almost every night. It contains many of the favorite stories that I grew up with as a kid. It is a must for any parent's library.

Of all the books I received as baby gifts, this book has had the longest lifespan. It was my daughter's favorite book as soon as she was old enough to turn regular pages, and almost a year later, it still is. Unlike shorter board books which become very repetitive, this book still has poems that seem "fresh" to me. Everytime we read it's a different experience, depending how many pages we turn at a time. It can be a short book or a long book, depending on the day. The illustrations are incredibly detailed. Even after what seems like a thousand reads, I'm finding clever twists and recognizing characters from elsewhere in the book. This book is a classic and offers lots of bang for your buck.

The illustrations for the rhymes are all of cats and other animals as stand in for humans and are very cute. As for the rhymes, there are not many of them and some are truncated.

When my kids were small, I went into a "Mother Goose" kick. I bought and checked out from the Library every Mother Goose I could find, we read them all, and THIS was by far our favorite. The selection of poems was varied, with old favorites and new poems I'd never heard from my childhood as well. The illustrations are beautiful and very fun, Rosemary Wells knows just how kids minds work!

This is a very good book, but it's not quite what I'd imagined. Most of the rhymes were not familiar to me. The illustrations are beautiful, though, and it's fun to read. We enjoy it, but if I had seen it before buying, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

Publisher's Weekly called this book "exuberant" and that's exactly the right word for it. Bright primary colors make up this book, and Rosemary Wells' adorable characters populate the rhymes. Unlike some Mother Goose books, this one is meaty -- it boasts 108 pages, with a rhyme on almost every page. That's a lot of nights of Mother Goose at bedtime.

Nursery rhymes help build phonological awareness, an important pre-reading skill. Research has actually shown that children who memorize nursery rhymes go on to become better readers than those who do not.

This book makes a great baby gift, and a terrific birthday or holiday gift for a toddler or preschooler. It's the one I grab first when I recommend nursery rhymes to library visitors.

I remember this book from when I was a kid, and am so happy to have it now to share with my little one. All the great nursery rhymes are here. Great book.

This book is an absolute necessity for anyone who is around children or, even moreso, a child at heart. The nursery rhymes of Mother Goose are classic and enduring, and this collection, with its vivid illustrations, bring to life so many familiar and wonderfully non-familiar poems.

What is to say about a classic? We have the origional I bought when my son was born 40 years ago this is for my newest grandson short, sweet readable stuff to make a baby giggle

This is the same edition my kids grew up with (real old fashioned, vivid color pictures), and we love it. I like to give it as a gift for baby showers to encourage young parents to making reading (and especially classics like this one)a priority in raising their little ones.

I couldn't find one around here but was very pleased to get a copy through your web site. It came in a timely manner also. Thank you, my grandson is studying the poems in school and will be very pleased to receive this for his birthday in April.

Reading to your children at a young age teaches children valuable reading skills (especially if you ask the right questions to make them think) and to love reading. This is a great book. Buy this along with my other two favorites:Life's Little Lessons: An Inch-By-Inch Tale of Success andThe Big Squeal: A Wild, True, and Twisted Tail. Young children will love the stories and the invaluable teaching guides make them must-have books for every parent and teacher bookshelf.

I gave this book and 2 others to my 6 1/2 year old niece for Christmas. She started reading the book Christmas day and asked for book marks to mark her favorite poems so she can take the book to school and share them with her classmates! The pictures and the poems drew her in and engaged her immediately. You cannot ask more from a children's book.

All sorts of rhymes by different authors, about all sorts of topics. Great for the earliest years.

Although my almost three year old daughter doesn't request this book, when I bring it out she invariably ends up sitting in my lap, pointing at the illustrations, telling me which poem to read next and has begun to finish the rhymes for me as I read . For me, it has been an enjoyable book to read aloud and it is nice to see her so involved in poetry.

These are not classic, everyday rhymes. Many of my books have the same old stuff over and over again e.g. Jack and Jill. This book has stuff like "The Dreadful Doings of Jelly Belly" and all sorts of amazing stuff. I read this one on my own, and if dad has time he reads me some of the more complicated ones. I like it. Valerie.

This book is beautifully illustrated with classic nursery rhymes from your childhood. It brings back memories for me.

Most of the included nursery rhymes are ones you will remember and enjoy sharing with your children. Don't get all hung up on what a violent world we live in and think that these are bad morals to teach your children, as one other reviewer of nursery rhyme books went into a diatribe about. The sooner your children realize that everyone is not equal and everyone is not a winner, the better off they will be in adulthood. The P.C. movement in the USA is out of control -- there really are winners and losers in life -- so, motivate your children to be winners through hard work, skill and talent! Don't teach them to expect a trophy and pat-on-the-back telling them how wonderful they are when the reality is something quite different. It's time to get back to basics in this country because the coddling of our children over the past 20 years certainly hasn't produced good results (look around and stop blaming nursery rhymes and video games for YOUR POOR PARENTING).

The morals in this book won't hurt anyone and they certainly didn't turn me into a serial killer. So, enjoy this beautiful book with your children -- I know I am!

This book is the perfect gift for a baby especially if they have an
older sibling that can read to them. Everyone should have the chance
to enjoy the beautiful pictures and rhymes
while holding a precious baby.

Nursery ryhmes are so important to learn as a child. As an adult, I know most of them and wanted to teach them to my children. I researched the perfect book that included all the rhymes I remembered. This book was it!! It had all the classic nursery ryhmes I remembered and more! And you will love the illustrations...beautiful! My son (age 4) remembers each picture and will talk about it. You will find so much detail in each illustration that will add to the nursery ryhme even more. I highly recommend this book!

We loved the book, Got it for a new grandson and the
pictures were gorgeous and well constructed binding.
Can not say enough good things about it. It had all
of the old favorites we read to our children when they
were small. Buy it.

This is truly the most incredible Mother Goose book that I have ever seen an I'm a children's librarian!!!!

This book is super easy to use. There is an index of popular words in the back that helps you find the rhyming vowel. The way this book is organized is the best I've seen in a rhyming dictionary. Children will enjoy their poetry assignments when they have the tools for the job. This book is an excellent tool for poetry and other creative writing assignments. Children in upper elementary and middle school would be able to use this book independenty. Younger elementary children would need assistance. This book is designed for children but adults may enjoy is's simplicity and ease of use as well.

Children love words and my students read this book for pleasure and then create their own poems.

This is a fantastic rhyming dictionary, great for middle school aged students. The organization of the dictionary helps students find their word choices quickly. I purchased five of these as a classroom set, and will purchase more soon to make sure that every student has one under their desk. Even the most stubborn "non writer" has fun using this resource to write poetry!

I love this book. It makes writing poetry so much more fun! Students argue over the books; I have about twenty for thirty students. You need to have these books in the English classroom for your poetry unit, and it is fun to have them throughout the year. If you are looking for a gift for an English or language arts teacher, this would be a great gift.

Once you get the hang of it this is a wonderful resource for any writer!
Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary

The illustrations as well as the sentiment are beautiful in this book! We find new details in the pictures each time we read it. The way this story is presented does a great job of making the idea of having two "real" mothers more concrete for our 6-year old daughter. I could almost see the lightbulbs popping up above her head! We have dozens of adoption related titles; this one makes my top 5 and is easily in my daughter's top 10.

This book is absolutely wonderful! I would recommend this to anyone who is adopting internationally.

Beautiful illustrations and a lovely poem about the adoptive child's two mothers (birthmother & adoptive mother).

We brought our two adopted daughters back to Jiande orphanage as preteens in 2006 and addressed the birthmom question not for the first time ... we had relied on the "Choco" book and other fables available in the mid-90s when we first had these discussions of the "tummy Mom" and the "real Mom." Too bad this book had not been available then. However, it is such a graphically beautiful book and has such a simple message that I thought I would add it to our China book shelf. The girls tend to act disinterested in those books now--unlike when they had been younger--but a book like this is easy to flip through in a few minutes and can easily re-ignite that on-going conversation our family has been having about how it feels to be adopted.

Motherbridge of Love is a masterfully illustrated and touchingly eloquent tribute to both birth and adoptive mothers. This beautifully illustrated version of a fairly well-known poem truly illustrates how the love of two women for one child come together to make the child who she is...the result of both of their love...expressed in very different ways.

Great children's book. It's a fun way to encourage and read with your child.

This books is wonderful! I am using it in small groups at work and the kids absolutely cannot get enough of this book. I bought all titles in the series! Great for paired reading among siblings, parents and children, and friends!

Our students really love all the books in this series. They frequently choose them to read to each other during free choice time. I would really recommend this book to other teachers as a great source for oral reading practice!

My seven year-old grandson introduced me to Mary Ann Hoberman's work. He loved reading to and with me. I'm a volunteer reading tutor and I use her books to teach first graders to read. They love it.

I highly recommend the books by Mary Ann Hoberman to excited kids about reading.

Judith Hays

I love Mary Anne Hoberman's "The Cozy Book", it is always a great bedtime story. So, when I found this title on Amazon, I couldn't resist. My son is 7 and enjoys reading, so this was perfect for us; he reads to me, I read to him, and we read the last verse together. The stories are cute and short, good if you only have a few minutes at the end of the day. The emphasis on reading is an added bonus.