by Liz Evers
ISBN: 978-1-78418-013-3
First published 2014
220 pages
Publisher: www.johnblakepublishing.co.uk
Cover illustration by Andrew Pinder
Design by www.envydesign.co.uk
3.5 / 5 Stars
A really interesting book delving into the history of some of our most beloved children’s nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Thematic and ordered, the book looks at 5 different themes for rhymes and stories:
- Sowing Superstition e.g. Ring-A-Ring O’ Roses or Sleeping Beauty
- Sex Education e.g. Lavender’s Blue or Rapunzel
- History Lessons e.g. Pop Goes The Weasel or The Princess and the Pea
- Crime and Punishment e.g. Rid A Cock Horse or Jack and the Beanstalk
- Model Families e.g. Jack and Jill or Cinderella
All have backstories and started very differently from the way we know them now.
My favourite is Oranges and Lemons (from the ‘Crime and Punishment’ section) which has nothing to do with oranges and lemons, but the places where executions would take place in London, or the fact that a debtors’ prison stood on a street called Old Bailey, and that Shoreditch was a very poor area so its residents couldn’t hope to pay the ‘five farthings’.
ORANGES AND LEMONS
Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St Clement’s.
You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin’s
When will you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich, Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney.
I do not know, Says the great bell of Bow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed.
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
The Eclectic Book Review 