Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
A traditional nursery song is expanded to tell the story of a young child's first day at school.

Reviews

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

The traditional nursery song introduces a story about an apprehensive little pig's first day at Mulberry School. Using variations on the repeated beginning refrain, our porcine narrator learns "this is where..." while wishing it was time to go home. But gradually, as the children build, splash, and play, school becomes a happy place with a new friend, a tasty snack, a story time. Within the pattern of the song, we find a cheery encouragement for a reluctant student. The long, horizontal, double-page scenes form a sort of frieze within which the assorted piggie-kids, including one in a wheel chair, act out the verses in simple, two-dimensional fashion. Hillenbrand's clarity of vision, deftly illustrated in mixed media on vellum painted on both sides, is readily accessible to young listeners and readers.

2003, Gulliver Books/Harcourt, Ages 3 to 6.