Babushka's Mother Goose

Polacco, P. (1995). Babushka's Mother Goose. New York, NY: Philomel Books.

Brief Annotation: This book is full of unique and quirky nursery rhymes. Babushka is another name for Grandmother, and she is the storyteller. The poems are very similar to the illustration, both are fun and colorful. They all incorporate Babushka and her friends in some way. There may be animals or other Babushkas, all of them usually running into some sort of a problem. The unique twist of Mother Goose is incorporated into many of the poems and all of them seem familiar even thought they are new.

Genre: Picturebook

Grade Level: Pre-K- Grade 3

Readers who will like this: I think that most children will enjoy this book, even though the poems are not as familiar to them. Babushka is a funny and sweet lady in the book and you can see that she interacts with many different type of people and animals. I also think that parents might enjoy the book if they are bored with reading some of the more common poems.

Response/Rating(1-4): 3, I enjoyed the book a great deal, but not all of the poems really captivated my attention. The illustrations are amazing though and the book is a lot of fun to look through. The uniqueness and energy that the book brings is why I enjoyed it.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “Do you have a Grandmother?” “Have you ever called her Babushka?”