Pocketful of Posies

Written and illustrated by

Salley Mavor

2011 Notable Children’s Book

Mavor, S. (2010). Pocketful of posies. Boston, MA:
     Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

  

EXPOSITION: Rather than telling a story, this book contains classic nursery rhymes.  Since the book begins with the author’s dedication “To the memory of my remarkable parents, Mary and Jim Mavor,” it suggests these nursery rhymes may have been ones she first heard from her mother and father. 

CONFLICT: The nursery rhymes are arranged to suggest a normal day, beginning with waking in the morning, spending the middle of the day at work or at play, and going to sleep at night. 

RISING ACTION:  In most cases, the central character of each nursery rhyme has a chore to do, like Simple Simon going to the fair or the crooked man who had to walk a crooked mile. 

CLIMAX: Many of the characters have a major challenge, like the old woman who lived in a shoe that had so many children she didn’t know what to do, or Mary whose little lamb followed her to school one day.

FALLING ACTION: As the suggested day traced by nursery rhymes winds down, so do the characters, like Little Boy Blue who fell asleep in a haystack, or Old King Cole who relaxed listening to the music of his fiddlers three.

RESOLUTION: By the end of the nursery rhyme day, stare light – star bright is shining in the night sky while Wee Willie Winkle goes by in his nightgown.

WAS THIS A WELL-ILLUSTRATED BOOK?  As a child, Salley Mavor grew up doing needlepoint.  So, she illustrated the book she wrote with drawings that look like they were hand-stitched instead of drawn.  This gives the book a nostalgic look that matches the old-time nursery rhymes it shares with young readers.                                   

PICTURE SOURCES:

mudpuddlestoys.com

danforthmuseum.org
wizardrecipes.com

epikardia.com