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Children's illustrator and author Kady MacDonald Denton won the Governor General's Award for
A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. This language-loving selection of Mother Goose classics is enriched with children's rhymes from other cultures, including China, India, and Africa--even one published in the original Zulu--and embellished by delightfully impish watercolours. Denton, whose other prizes include the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbons Illustration Award for
'Til the Stars Have Fallen and a Mr. Christie's Book Award for
The Story of Little Quack, was given free rein to choose whichever rhymes she found most delightful. She based her
Child's Treasury on her own and her children's childhood favourites, plus some gems she discovered while researching this project.
The book is divided into four sections: rhymes for baby, toddler, and schoolchild, and "All Join In," which features riddles (with clues provided among the illustrations), limericks, and tongue-twisters that reveal Denton's love of wordplay. Her illustrations--particularly those that divide a poem into four comic strip-like panels--resemble those Maurice Sendak created for I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book, as does the frolicsome tone. Marginal illustrations with single lines of text that are tucked into the upper corner of each page and together form hidden rhymes and rhyme medleys--one for each of the Treasury's four sections--make a particularly charming touch. (Baby to age 9). --Deirdre Hanna
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Kady MacDonald Denton’s friendly watercolours make this an especially inviting collection.
This 145-poem collection is indeed a treasury. There is a wealth of material to take you all through childhood and, in the case of the adult reader, back again. The design is lively, achieving unity and variety ?
Denton expresses in ink and watercolour all the fun, wickedness, and drama experienced by her young audience.
A fat book of rhyming poetry for kids should be a staple in any family library, and this season’s standout is A Child’s Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. Brandon, Manitoba, writer and illustrator Kady MacDonald Denton won a Governor General’s award for the whimsical pictures that accompany her eclectic selection of nursery rhymes, songs, and ditties ranging from Mother Goose favorites to poems from China, Africa, and India.