MONSTER GOOSE by Judy Sierra is a creepy retelling of traditional Mother Goose rhymes in which the familiar characters have been replaced by monsters such as vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Twenty-five rhymes are turned scary while keeping the silly rhyming structure of the originals. The book opens with “Old Monster Goose”: “Old Monster Goose,/ When conditions did suit her,/ Pecked out these rhymes/ On her laptop computer.” Monster Goose types away with sinister eyes and a devilish grin, pointy teeth poking from her beak. Such begins the tales and the mood is set.

The pages are presented with about three-quarters of the double-page spread being a boxed illustration. The remaining area shows a box containing the rhyme. Jack E. Davis has added small touches to his acrylic/colored pencil art that bring the nastiness out to the reader. For instance, each picture bursts a little from it’s border: a corner of a bat’s wing here, an outstretched finger there. Parts of the pictures also leak into the box containing the text. The wet spots on the checked floor appear beneath the words to “Rub-a-Dub Dub”, in which three piranhas “hide and wait for you”. Davis also takes the time to add grotesque details to further draw the reader into the story. Billy Bryant’s giant had a hairy wart-type thing on his nose, sinister vampire sheep sport Dracula hair-dos, and the “old zombie who lived in a shoe” sports stubble on her green chin and upper lip. The topics may sometimes be scary, but as Publishers Weekly notes, “he indicates the verses’ humor by giving the characters diabolical ear-to ear grins, shifty eyes, and skulky postures.”

The rhymes themselves follow the oral tradition of Mother Goose by keeping the rhythm lively. Especially with very recognizable rhymes such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (here “Mary Had a Vampire Bat), children will love to listen and to read aloud to the familiar beat. The recommendation on the back of the book states “Ages 5 to 8”, but much of this book may be a little mature for very young children. “Cannibal Horner” bites off his own thumb, leaving bone poking out , and digs into a “people potpie” containing eyeballs, ears, and bones. Likewise, some children may need to be older than eight to appreciate the humor in rhymes such as “Jack Sprat”, in which Jack drinks gasoline, lights his pipe, and “in one swipe. Invented Lean Cuisine.” Overall, MONSTER GOOSE is a funny twist on the original, but its audience should be selected with care.

2001. Review of Monster Goose in Publishers Weekly.