Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose

I read somewhere that children's authors are under a lot of pressure these days--every story that comes out has to teach kids the alphabet, AND how to count, AND farm animal sounds, AND have a nice moral to wrap it all up. It seems that way, anyway. But a story that's trying to do too much just isn't a good story.

Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose is a little bit like that, but not to the extreme. It's a collection of Mother Goose rhymes that have numbers in them--One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, for example. Most of them are familiar nursery rhymes, and a few are unfamiliar. It's always fun to learn a new nursery rhyme.

So this book is kind of fun, but I think its effectiveness at teaching numbers, if you want to use it for teaching, depends on the child. Some kids would do well learning their numbers in the context of a nursery rhyme, while some would probably do better to learn their numbers in a simpler way. I think Little Boy was the second type.

What I really recommend is using this book as a fun collection of nursery rhymes for kids that can already count. They'll enjoy counting along and seeing how the numbers work in different rhymes.

Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose
Collected and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
Age range*: 3-6
My rating: 3 stars [out of five] 

*Age ranges are very flexible.

Full disclosure: I don't receive any compensation for reviewing children's books--the books are usually just checked out from the local library.