What Are Little Girls Made Of?

by Jeanne Willis, Isabelle Follath (Illustrator)

Overview

Think you know your nursery rhymes? Then think again! In this witty reworking of some nursery rhymes, Georgie Porgie doesn’t dare to make the girls cry, Little Bo-Peep’s sheep are all present and accounted for, thank you, and it’s a female doctor, of course, who fixes Humpty Dumpty. With the combination of clever rhymes and charming, witty illustrations, this remixed nursery rhyme collection is the perfect gift book for any child (or adult!), to read aloud or enjoy alone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536217339
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/04/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	103,832
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Jeanne Willis wrote her first book when she was five. After that, there was no turning back. She has since written more than three hundred books and has won several awards, which are arranged in the attic where she works along with her collection of caterpillars, pink-toed tarantula skins, and live locusts. Jeanne Willis lives in London.

Isabelle Follath is a freelance illustrator living in Zürich, Switzerland, with her husband and daughter. Having worked for advertising agencies, fashion magazines, and book publishers for more than fifteen years, her true passion lies in illustrating children’s books. She uses pen and ink, watercolor, and pencil alongside digital techniques to create her work.

Editorial Reviews

Witty remixed nursery rhymes give little girls power, purpose, and presence...Although this title keeps gender clearly binary, this diverse bunch of girls can choose to be fairy queens or crocodiles. The very last lines turn the spotlight on a dancing Black boy, capturing the essence of empowerment: “Ray is dancing a ballet—we play what we want to play!” More relevant, possibly more entertaining, and certainly more appropriate than the originals.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

★ 2020-12-15
Witty remixed nursery rhymes give little girls power, purpose, and presence.

The original version of the nursery rhyme “Georgie Porgie” has not aged well. To kiss a girl and make her cry smacks of harassment. Author Willis gives the young White girl a voice, telling Georgie: “Don’t kiss me unless I say!” Many well-known nursery rhymes are here similarly reworked: Humpty Dumpty has a Black woman doctor; instead of wringing her hands over her lost sheep, Little Bo Peep (a pale-skinned girl with a long, brown braid) rescues them from a pit of slime. With laugh-out-loud humor, the equitable spin refocuses these traditional vignettes. Knowing the originals intensifies the impact but is not necessary. With a sophisticated color palette and clever visuals, Follath’s precise illustrations bolster the rewordings; readers will lose themselves in the detail and the content. Inherent in these poems is the kernel of truth that girls can choose to do or be anything. For that matter, boys can, too. Although this title keeps gender clearly binary, this diverse bunch of girls can choose to be fairy queens or crocodiles. The very last lines turn the spotlight on a dancing Black boy, capturing the essence of empowerment: “Ray is dancing a ballet—we play what we want to play!”

More relevant, possibly more entertaining, and certainly more appropriate than the originals. (Picture book/poetry. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews