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‘I Saw You In The Bathtub’ — 40 Fun Rhymes For Kids Of All Ages
‘I saw you in the river. / I saw you in the sea. / I saw you in the bathtub. / Oops! Pardon me!’ and other timeless crowd-pleasers
Remember “Teacher, teacher, made a mistake — / She sat down in a chocolate cake!”?
You can refresh your memory — and delight children in your orbit — with this lively book of folk rhymes for roughly ages 9 and under, which may also appeal to adults who once chanted or jump-roped to them.
Alvin Schwartz has collected 40 entertaining playground classics in this installment of the HarperCollins “I Can Read” series, illustrated by Syd Hoff. All are so old that nobody knows their original authors. Who cares who first shouted, “I scream, / You scream, / We all scream / For ice cream!”?
Most of the folk rhymes gathered by Schwartz consist mainly of one- or two-syllable words. So the book may especially appeal to kindergarten-through-third-graders who are starting to read and need short words and a strongly patterned text. But children as young as age 2 can enjoy their sing-song rhythms even if they don’t understand all the words. If you’d like to encourage them to enjoy poetry, these verses are a lot more fun — and memorable — than some of the more sadistic Mother Goose rhymes.
