Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls
By Lucy Nolan
Illustrated by Connie McLennan
ISBN: 978-1-934359-96-9
Published by Sylvan-Dell Publishing, emphasizing Science and Math through Literature
Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.
Just beneath the waves you lie,
like a star tossed from the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, starfish dear,
hiding in the shallows here.
Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls, written by Lucy Nolan and illustrated by Connie McLennan, is a collection of fun and entertaining parodies of many favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes. But the rhymes inside Mother Osprey are parodies with purpose. Math and counting skills, science and history are all lessons taught in these poems. Don’t think “Boring” when you see that this book teaches hard subjects like math or science. The rhymes and illustrations are pure enjoyment in themselves.
Most of Lucy Nolan’s rhymes are pure silly fun that kids will enjoy listening to over and over and even memorizing; the rest vividly illustrate a point in time from history. An appendix in the back adds more facts and explanations that the parent or teacher can use to draw young listeners further into a teaching moment. A map shows where each of the habitats is located.
Twinkle, Twinkle starfish dear, quoted above, places the starfish in its natural habitat and opens up rich opportunities for discussing the shallows and beaches along a rocky coast. What other animals life nearby? What do they eat? What eats them?
But Lobster Pies is just plain silly:
Old Mrs. Wise
made lobster pies all on a winter’s day;
her greedy son
grabbed every one
and took them clean away.
What a surprise
for Junior Wise
lay inside that croaker sack.
When he sat on a bench
to eat a pinch,
the lobster pies pinched back!
Nursery rhymes satisfy at many levels: they’re great fun to listen to, with their rhymes and the rhythm of their meter. They’re pleasing for the strength of their imagery. They easily capture a child’s imagination, slipping into their memories and never losing their ability to bring enjoyment. Children seem to never tire of repeating them over and over and the verses are a natural invitation to singing. Nursery rhymes teach children language skills and the repetition packs information into their young, developing brains and they help develop their ears for word use and phrasing.
Mother Osprey is a perfect gift for your child or your child’s classroom teacher, whether in preschool, kindergarten, or the early grades. The rhymes are a perfect starter to get children to focus on some part of the environment, or a place. They introduce elements of nature in an interesting way, which leads naturally to a discussion of what is in the rhyme.
