Book Review: Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes

A little over a year ago when I was reading The Read Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease strongly recommended reading nursery rhymes to children, especially babies and toddlers. He listed a few nursery rhyme books he really liked at the moment, and Lucy Cousins' Book of Nursery Rhymes was one of them. I hopped on Amazon and ordered our copy.

McKenna was around 18 months old when we got it. She is now 27 months old. She has been in love with the book from the moment we got it to now. She loves it. At first, she would haul it around the house with her everywhere. Now, she looks at it at independent play every day and wants it read to her every single night. 

When we do nursery rhymes for learning time, she knows them all because of this book. 

I recently read Reading Magic by Mem Fox, which is another book on literacy. Fox also recommends nursery rhymes, and says important elements in reading are rhyme, rhythm, and repetition. 

Anyway, this is a great nursery rhyme book. In all honesty, it probably doesn't matter much what nursery rhyme book you get--a nursery rhyme is a nursery rhyme. The difference in book collections is which rhymes they include. There is also the picture factor--which I think is a big one. For whatever reason, children love Lucy Cousins' books. Another nursery rhyme book we have read and liked is Sing a Song of Sixpence: A Pocketful of Nursery Rhymes and Tales.