“Dada is creating art with humor and absurdity to challenge what many people might think is right or normal.” Here a handful of European/English Mother Goose nursery rhymes are reimagined in the spirit of Dadaism. The six traditional rhymes are presented in their familiar iteration before a half dozen fresh and funny variations of each one. Humpty Dumpty‘s fate as a game of telephone translation, for example, and described in a postcard Humpty writes home from camp. “Jack Be Nimble” as a book report (“The main character in this nursery rhyme is Jack …”) and a multiple-choice quiz. “Old Mother Hubbard” with Jabberwocky, and as a comic strip. A “Hey Diddle Diddle” recipe and pop quiz. “Hickory Dickory Dock” in hieroglyphs and as a crossword. An anagram of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and a version with excessive similes (“Like a slice of cherry pie. Like a rug hung out to dry …”). With literary play, ciphers, codes, and more, this book in which silly humor abounds features illustrations that are an homage to the classic artwork of Blanche Fischer Wright, illustrator of The Real Mother Goose, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor added. Information about the various devices used, from Morse code to the military alphabet, are included at volume’s end along with more about Wright and Dadaism. (Age 8 and older)

The classic nursery rhymes we know and love—upside-down, backward, in gibberish, and fresh out of bounds—as only Jon Scieszka could stage them

Mother knows best, but sometimes a little nonsense wins the day. Inspired by Dadaism’s rejection of reason and rational thinking, and in cahoots with Blanche Fisher Wright’s The Real Mother Goose, this anthology of absurdity unravels the fabric of classic nursery rhymes and stitches them back together (or not quite together) in every clever way possible. One by one, cherished nursery rhymes—from “Humpty Dumpty” to “Hickory Dickory Dock,” “Jack Be Nimble” to “Mother Hubbard”—fall prey to sly subversion as master of fracture Jon Scieszka and acclaimed illustrator Julia Rothman refashion them into comics strips, errant book reports, anagrams, and manic mash-ups. Playfully reconstructed, the thirty-six old-new rhymes invite further baloney, bringing kids in on the joke and inviting them to revel in reimagining. Featuring robust back matter, this irreverent take on the rhymes of childhood is a great gift for child readers, a rich classroom resource across grade levels, and a love song to a living language.