Wednesday, March 14, 2007


Forgotten Bookshelf: The Space Child's Mother Goose

by Frederick Winsor, illus. Marian Parry
Simon & Schuster, 1956
Reissued 2001 by Purple House Press


Hey, did anybody notice that today is Pi Day? You know -- March 14 -- 3.14. A perfect day to celebrate all things clever and mathematical. Of course, it also makes an excellent reason to go out and eat some pie. Here's a treat to celebrate this rather irrational day:

Probable-Possible, my black hen,
She lays eggs in the Relative When.
S
he doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now

Because she's unable to Postulate How.


In the 1950s, architecht Frederick Winsor frequently contributed light verse to the Atlantic Monthly about science, math, and philosophy. In 1956, these and a few more were compiled to make The Space Child's Mother Goose. In an inspired move, the illustrator Marian Parry was asked to contribute to the book what she calls her "own peculiar drawings." Together, they created a world of whimsy just perfect for anyone with a love of word games, questions, and puzzles. Winsor has been described as kind of a distant cousin from the White Knight in Alice in Wonderland, and it shows. Almost all of the verses in this collection are parodies of familiar nursery rhymes, like this one:

Flappity, Floppity, Flip!
The Mouse on the Mobius Strip.

The Strip revolved,
The Mouse dissolved,
In a chronodimensional skip.


Or this one:

Spin along in spatial night,
Artificial Satellite;
Monitor, with blip and beep,

The Universe -- and Baby's sleep.


Other verse sounds familiar, although it's all pure Winsor:

There was an old man in a Time Machine
Who borrowed a Tuesday all painted in green.

His pockets with rockets he used to jam

And he said, "I
have thunk, so I cannot am!"

As you can see from this example, not all of the verses make particular sense, but sparkle instead with lovely rhythms and clever twists of language. Longer poems are included too, such as the science satire "The Theory That Jack Built" ("This is the Flaw/Based on the Mummery/Hiding the Flaw/The lay in th Theory Jack Built") and "A Space Child Would Exploring Go" ("With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinach/Heigh Ho! says Anthony Rowley"). Oh, and did I mention that the "Probable-Possible" verse at the beginning of this review is presented in several different languages throughout the book? It's there in French, Greek, Chinese, and even one using Egyptian hieroglyphics. Egads.

(The Greek translation includes the line "She lays eggs in concept, being a sophist-bird.")

Feeling dazzled? Winsor includes footnotes to many of his verses, but even these exist as bits of doggerel -- to define "cortex" and "vortex," he gives us this: "[t]he cortex wraps around a core/Alas! there isn't any vore." For readers wanting some down-to-earth information, there is also an appendix called "Answers."

There are many verses about time travel in this book, and I can't help but wonder if that is part of the reason why this book has aged so well, despite the fact that it is fifty-plus years old. Yes, there are a few references to outdated technology (such as a "Hi-Fi") and one poem, "The Hydrogen Dog and the Cobalt Cat," is a vintage Cold War-era bit about nuclear paranoia. (It's also the most heavyhanded poem in the book.) But most of them, since they deal with timeless concepts, are still as fresh and fun today as they were fifty years ago.

Let's not forget the illustrations! Parry decorates each and every page of this book -- including the gorgeous indigo endpapers, and they are just as amusing as the poems they accompany. She uses delicate lines to create mawkish, birdlike people in old-fashioned dress.
Sheep float in parallel lines into another dimension, elaborate, button-lovely machines rattle and bang while mischiveous, wide-eyed children look on. A few pictures include figures created entirely out of curlicues. It's rare that you see an author and illustrator so happily matched.

The big question is, of course, who is this book for? Initially, I thought that nursery-aged children might be a bit young for these rhymes, but really, the nonsense here makes as much sense as the nonsense in any other Mother Goose anthology. Older children, especially middle-schoolers and up -- will certainly get a kick out of some of these, perhaps even more when introduced by a teacher or other adult friend.

Think twice about passing up this book -- it's true that these verses may not be for everybody, but as the culture of childhood is becoming more and more math-phobic (especially among girls), it's good to pass along something that makes thinking seem merry.

11 comments:

ElsKushner said...

This is probably my partner's very favorite book from childhood! She still has her old copy. It's nice to see it in print again.

Brooke said...

Whew! I was afraid that I'd get comments from people claiming that Space Child really isn't a book for children.

I always feel like I'm doing my job right when people see my Forgotten Book reviews and take pleasure in remembering a long-lost friend. Thanks for the feedback!

Anonymous said...

I posted this comment on another board, where I hang out. It was appended to a 'favorite poetry' thread.

Thanks, Brooke, for keeping old memories alive.

Ho Ho Tai

"This is the Theory that Jack Built"

One more (though perhaps not the last) attempt to gather interest in what is
becoming a moribund thread.

I quote the poem:
"This is the theory that Jack built"
from "The Space Child's Mother Goose"
by Frederick Winsor, illus. Marian Parry
Simon & Schuster, 1956
Reissued 2001 by Purple House Press

I graduated in Physics & Mathematics, 1959. This little book enjoyed a lot of
hand-to-hand circulation amongst the students in science, engineering and
mathematics, during the years when I was pursuing my degree.

I contend that it applies, not only to the scientific fields, but to any field
of human endeavor which attempts to explain the universe around us, and the
reason and purpose for our being here. The poem lays bare the dangers in
depending on private or arcane knowledge, revealed truth, untested hypotheses
masquerading as solid theories, reference to 'authority' who, in turn, reference
other 'authority'.

We, and all of our attempts at explanation, are in the position of The Blind Men
and the Elephant, in how we grasp partial truths and extrapolate to what we consider the
full explanation. In that sense, I believe that ALL of the major attempts at
seeking such information - science & mathematics, philosophy, poetry and
literature, and most particularly, theology, are all subcategories of mythology.
There is probably some truth in all of them, but none have exclusive domain.
Whether we believe that the universe rests on the back of a huge turtle, is
constructed of particles which can only be hypothesized, or is the mental
creation of a god, we are all partners in the search for truth - as long as we
continue to observe, refine, challenge and test. If we continue only to assert
our own beliefs, in increasingly loud and strident voices, we reach the point at
which the world is today.

I challenge you. What if the "Space Child with Brow Serene" pushed the button on
your machine?


This is the Theory Jack built.
This is the Flaw
That lay in the Theory Jack built.
This is the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Turn of a Plausible Phrase
That thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Chaotic Confusion and Bluff
That hung on the Turn of a Plausible Phrase
That thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Cybernetics and Stuff
That covered Chaotic Confusion and Bluff
That hung on the Turn of a Plausible Phrase
That thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the button to Start the Machine
To make with the Cybernetics and Stuff
To cover Chaotic Confusion and Bluff
That hung on the Turn of a Plausible Phrase
That thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
That saved the Summary
Based on the Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
That lay in the Theory that Jack built.
This is the Space Child with Brow Serene
Who Pushed the Button to Start the Machine
That made with the Cybernetics and Stuff
Without Confusion, exposing the Bluff
That hung on the Turn of a Plausible Phrase
And, shredding the Erudite Verbal Haze
Cloaking Constant K
Wrecked the Summary
Based on Mummery
Hiding the Flaw
And Demolished the Theory that Jack built.
__________________
Ho Ho Tai

"The greatest wisdom: Love and Laughter, Inter-twined."

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