Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys and Gulls

Mother Goose rhymes are recast with a distinctly maritime theme, taking readers up and down America's waterways, from coast to coast. “One Potato, Two Potato,” here “One Flamingo,” becomes a musing on collective nouns for coastal species: “Seagulls form a colony, and curlews form a herd./ But cormorants are called a gulp—they're such a silly bird.” And rather than sugar and spice, little gulls are made of “Mischief and daring and one pickled herring,/ that's what little gulls are made of.” Most of Nolan's (the Down Girl and Sit series) rhymes are only passing clever, and McLennan's (The Rainforest Grew All Around ) images possess a safe, generic feel—there aren't many flights of imagination on display. But this might be a nice one to tuck into the beach bag, with an eye toward turning time under the beach umbrella into teachable moments. Ages 3–7. (Aug.)