Review Detail

‘The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense’ by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Julia Rothman, combines definitions, Morse Code, comics, news articles, recipes, hieroglyphs, crosswords, haikus, and more, in expertly wacky fashion, to create a book that contains exactly what the title implies—nonsense!

Notes can be found in later pages in the book to interpret Morse Code, Esperanto, and secret codes such as Pig Latin and reverse alphabet. Haikus, rebuses, and hieroglyphs are also further explained for those who want to know more.

This absurdly ridiculous sharing of classic nursery rhymes that have been torn apart to make new, imaginatively retold, preposterous rhymes makes for a book that has no real reason other than to amuse and delight readers who are looking for something astonishing and bizarre to enjoy.