Mary and Her Little Lamb

Gr 1—3—Readers will probably be surprised to learn that the familiar nursery rhyme is actually based on a pamphlet written by Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, a farm girl who loved animals, especially sheep. When its mother rejected a frail lamb twin, Mary raised it herself, and the lamb became a beloved pet that followed her everywhere—once even to school. John Roulstone, a visitor at school that day, wrote a verse about the incident and gave it to Mary. End matter provides musical notation and additional information about Sawyer, who was born in 1806 and attended the Redstone Schoolhouse in Sudbury, MA; Sarah Josepha Hale, who published the poem with added verses; and Lowell Mason, who composed music for it. Moses's rich oil paintings, rendered in his characteristic folk-art style, beautifully depict rural 19-century life. They include spreads, framed pictures with images of books and hens in the margins, and vignettes accompanying the lengthy text. Mary's large farmhouse kitchen has a spinning wheel, a pump at the sink, and pots simmering in the hearth. Animals romp in the fields, and in the distance, horses and carriages ride along a dirt road past the church and other low-lying buildings. Desks attached to benches line Mary's schoolroom where children write on slates and draw humorous pictures on the blackboard in the teacher's absence. Moses's Mother Goose (Philomel, 2003) would be a perfect accompaniment to this interesting story.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT