Spoofy Spookapedia! Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters by Rachel Kolar

PROLOGUE

BOYS AND GIRLS, COME TRICK OR TREAT

THE MOON IS BRIGHT; THE CANDY'S SWEET.

HOWL AND GIGGLE AND SHOUT AND CHEER

BECAUSE HALLOWEEN IS FINALLY HERE!

It's time for the venerable Mother Goose Rhymes to get a little spooky spoofing, and in Rachel Kolar's Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters (Sleeping Bear Press, 2018), it is parody of a very elegant sort, perfectly preserving the rhythm and meter of the original well- known verses

Favorite nursery rhyme characters get their chance to dress up for the occasion and take on a scarier persona for Fright Night.

Mary had a little ghost; his face was white as cloud.
Everywhere that Mary went, he followed in his shroud.

Little Boy Drac has bats in his belfry instead of sheep in his meadow, and Old Mother Hubbard finds, not a bone in her cupboard, but an angry skeleton who won't part with any of his parts. And Mary, Mary, still contrary, is also "Mary, Mary, tall and scary" who grows tombstones all in a row in her graveyard instead of silver bells.

Wee Willie Werewolf runs down the street,
Upstairs, downstairs, on his clawed feet.

But this Wee Willie is not growling at kids late to bed, but warning the monsters of the coming sunrise. It's all great fun for slightly scary holiday reading, with intricate illustrations in evocative blacks and purples by artist Roland Garrigue. This is a fine holiday treat for youngsters who like their monster rhymes with tongue in cheek, great for reading in bed or reading aloud. Says Publishers Weekly, "The poems may inspire kids to try their own spooky adaptations—-there are an unlucky 13 nursery rhymes here, and “Jack and Jill” is still up for grabs."