MOTHER GOOSE
Artist's Note
by  SYLVIA LONG

Mother Goose rhymes have such a long and deeply rooted tradition that I approached this project with some trepidation. After all, bookshelves are already filled with Mother Goose collections, many of them wonderful. I felt strongly that there was no point in doing another unless I could find ways to make it unique. So along with the most familiar rhymes, I have included quite a few less familiar ones. I have also tried to keep the classic qualities associated with Mother Goose while at the same time softening the more frightening images. Based on my own reactions as a child, I know that some of the imagery can be terrifying. It is not difficult for children to imagine what will happen when Humpty Dumpty or the rocking cradle hits the ground. In all but one case, "The Old Woman in the Shoe," I didn't feel justified in changing the words, but I tried to add a gentleness to the pictures. This doesn't mean that I have made the images "contemporary," but rather that I have tried to show that the rhymes can be interpreted in many different ways. Here, Peter Pumpkin-Eater's wife is quite cozy in her pumpkin shell. The baby in the cradle is a fledgling bird. And Humpty Dumpty, always a beloved character, may not be able to piece his shell together again, but that's not necessarily the end. A broken egg is not always a problem. Sometimes it's a duckling.

In addition, I have linked the pages visually to add another level of play, as well as a sense of cohesion to the collection. For instance, the spoon that runs away with the dish in "Hey, Diddle, Diddle" is the same spoon that Little Miss Muffet later uses to eat her curds and whey. My hope is that readers will return to the book again and again, not only to hear the rhymes but also to pore over the images, finding new connections with each reading. When we make reading fun and surprising, we grow readers (and writers and artists). Many adults can look back and see that it was in these rhymes that they first found a love of language, rhythm and story. And for artists like myself, it is a place where many of us found images that remain vividly alive in our imaginations. Recited by heart, passed lovingly from parent to child, these verses—magical, musical, sometimes silly, sometimes wise—are part of our collective childhood.

This has been the most ambitious and challenging book project that I have been involved in, as well as the most fun. Now that I have had the privilege of helping with its creation, I hope that it will be enjoyed and loved by others.