And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry From Everyone

Bibliography

Schwartz, Alvin. 1992. And the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry From Everyone. Ill. by Sue Truesdell, New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0060227583

Plot Summary

This book is a compiled of group of folk poetry broken down into chapters based on subjects. There is everything from poems to songs to chants, riddles, and clapping games.

Critical Analysis

The rhymes and chants really come to life when read aloud. It has a table of contents, which is helpful, and it has source notes throughout which help the reader understand the background behind some of the poetry.
The end of the book has the sources to show where Schwartz found each piece in his book. The jumping rope and clapping chants really stand out. They have simple characters that do silly acts. For example, on page 98, in
"Miss Lucy had a baby
She named him Tiny Tim,
She put him in the bathtub
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water,
He ate up all the soap.
He tried to eat the bathtub,
But it wouldn’t go down his throat…"
The rhythmic pattern is fun to read aloud over and over again.
The illustrations in this book are done in black and white with exaggerated characters to help keep with the fun theme of the folklores.

Review Excerpt(s)

Children's Literature
"Perhaps the best collection of folk rhymes I have seen, this award-winning compilation covers many childhood favorites, such as "Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro?" and "Here comes the bride/Big, fat, and wide." Young readers and their parents and teachers can have fun reading the ones they know and learning new ones. Most importantly, we can all come to appreciate how much these rhymes are a part of our history and will hopefully become a part of our future."

Connections

*Read many of the folklores from this book and let students share the versions they know.
*Put folklores on an overhead and do choral readings.