OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill

Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme for Roundup!

I'm excited to share with you a gorgeous book that I am completely enamored of: OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY. It's "A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes" which may not seem all that fresh or exciting -- until you realize the book is illustrated by "more than 70 celebrated artists."

That's right: 70 different artists! And oh, my, even without the words, this book would be a stunner. As a lover of illustrated children's books, I get a little breathless looking at all these many styles of art all in one book. Seriously, it's gorgeous. And the text has its own freshness: these are not just Mother Goose American/English nursery rhymes. There are all sorts of cultures represented here, which makes this book, for me, a must-have. Please, please take a look. So enchanting! Betsy Bird thinks so, too!

And just to give you a little flavor of the text, I'm excited to share with you  just a few poems:

How shall I begin my song
In the blue night that is settling:
I will sit here and begin my song.

-Tohono O'odham

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We keep a dog to watch the house,
A pig is useful, too;
We keep a cat to catch a mouse,
But what can we do
With a girl like you?

-Chinese American

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Put your hands on your hips,
Let your backbone shake,
Shake it to the East,
Shake it to the West,
Shake it to the very one that
you love the best.

-Caribbean clapping rhyme
(This one is so joyously illustrated by Ashley Bryan, that I can't not mention it.)

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A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose,
A hundred eyes, and never a nose.

-English (answer to the riddle: a potato!)

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Bed is too small for my tiredness.
Give me a hilltop with trees;
Tuck a cloud up under my chin.
Lord, blow out the moon - please.

Rock me to sleep in a cradle of dreams.
Sing me a lullaby of leaves;
Tuck a cloud up under my chin.
Lord, blow out the moon - please.

-American