Mother Ghoul’s Curses and Rhymes by Sondi Miller is a collection of monster’s myths and legends gathered for the benefit of a ghoulish posterity. The curses and rhymes are read to all monsterlings as they gather around the camp fires of burning villages.
Monster Classics Presents:
Mother Ghoul's Curses and Rhymes by Sondi Miller is a collection of 32 monster-ous bedtime charms and poetry plus 12 illustrations. It is the first book in the Monster Classic Series.
This collection was gathered from Monster's myths and legends. It is not recommended for children under 13 years of age.
Read it at your own risk. I dare you!
Excerpt:
Maxie, Scampy
Maxie, scampy,
Bloody vampy,
How does your garden grow?
With ghostly wails,
And dragon tails,
And gargoyles all in a row.
Ring of Witches Purses
Ring of witches purses,
Pocket full of curses,
Hexex, hexes,
We all fall down.
Excerpt
Ring of Witches Purses
Ring of witches purses,
Pocket full of curses,
Hexes, hexes,
We all fall down.
Professional Reviews
Irma Fritz- Author of Irretrievably Broken
Nursery rhymes were often written as poems for children to disguise their true meaning. The actual purpose might have been political satire or to commemorate actual, and often, frightening historical events. Thus the rhyme, "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary," if truth be told, talks of Queen Mary, the one nicknamed "Bloody Mary" for torturing and burning Protestants alive at the stake. The children's rhyme "Ring Around the Rosy" is about the Bubonic Plague. A rosy red rash in the shape of a ring on the skin was one of the signs of infection. It was believed that the plague was transmitted by bad smells and so pockets and pouches were filled with sweet smelling herbs, or "a pocketful of posies." Of course, when none of it worked, the afflicted died and were cremated, or as the rhyme goes, "ashes, ashes, we all fall down."
During the 16th and 17th centuries people were obsessed with witchcraft and blamed every unexplainable event or natural disaster on witches and their "familiars," those being cats, frogs, crows, bats, geese, and many others who were believed to be evil spirits in animal form doing the witch's bidding. Seen in this light the innocuous seeming "Old Mother Goose" nursery rhyme holds a darker meaning of an old hag who rides on her substitute broomstick, a goose.
Then we have the story of Jack and Jill. Parents might consider this an excellent cautionary tale when reading this rhyme to their children. But if you read to your children at bedtime do not tell them the origin of this little ditty--or your kids might never get to sleep. The rhyme of Jack and Jill is actually a description of the beheading of King Louis XVI (Jack, who broke his crown) and his queen Marie Antoinette (Jill, who came tumbling after).
Another king and queen rhyme is that of Jack Sprat. Jack is King Charles I and his queen is Henrietta Maria. It seems that Parliament refused to finance the King's war on Spain, leaving him lean, and prompting the Queen to declare a war tax, giving her the fat... and together they ate the plate clean.
As if these rhymes weren't wicked enough, along comes Sondi Miller's wonderful "MOTHER GHOUL'S CURSES AND RHYMES," a collection of monsters' bedtime magical charms and poetry. The author takes the nursery rhymes so familiar to most of us and populates them with ghouls, ghosts, and goons, with sprites and crows, newts and bats. This double dose of rhyming wickedness she augments with delightful drawings, some of which will make you laugh out loud.
Not to give too much away, but in her rhymes Little Miss Muffet eats the spider, Jack drowns and Jill lives happily ever after, Old King Cole turns into a banshee, Jack and Mrs. Sprat are cat and troll, and Little Tommy Stout becomes, what else? a wicked ghoulish Stout.
Sondi Miller does not recommend her rhymes for human children under the age of 13. Adults she cautions to read at their own risk. I feel it necessary to add that if you are the kind who is easily frightened by the dark or by things that go bump in the night, do not do what I did. Do not read this book at bedtime!
Esmerelda Luv
These delightfully wicked poems are a lot of fun! Kind of like peeking in a trick or treat bag--You're not sure what all is in there, but you know it'll be good. I read this book slowly, anticipating the "BOO!" lurking... In there.... Somewhere... I dare you.... Turn the page.
WheelMan Press
These poems are short but sweet little nuggets of ghoulish goodness, nice twists on the old Mother Goose rhymes all of us "old timers" know by heart. Author Sondi Miller managers to maintain the beloved wit and whimsy of the original poems while making them fresh and new. Sometimes I just wish the poems had been longer, because many of them are not only great poems, but great would make great bedtime tales as well.
Mother Ghoul's Curses and Rhymes is indeed a "Monster Classic" that you and your kids will surely enjoy.
This book represents a thirty-day period of my poetry journal. Each poem addresses
the dominant thoughts occupying my mind during the early morning hours of a given
day.
This is a book of free verse poetry that addresses the seven main tests in life and offers some sensible solutions to passing those tests with minimal discomfort.
