Fun Stuff
Nursery Rhymes
The Tarts
The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts,
All on a summer's day;
The Knave of Hearts,
He stole the tarts,
And took them clean away.
The King of Hearts
Called for the tarts,
And beat the Knave full sore;
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts,
And vowed he'd steal no more.
No discussion of early children’s literature is complete without a mention of Randolph Caldecott, the British illustrator whose work transformed children’s book publishing in the 19th century. For each Christmas during a period of eight years, Caldecott illustrated two picture books, printed largely in color and priced at a shilling each. Children eagerly awaited the books, which were usually nursery rhymes, light verse or nonsense. These beautiful but cheap books made Caldecott internationally famous. Today, the Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the year's most distinguished American picture book for children. The illustrations on this page are from Caldecott's version of The Queen of Hearts.
Mother Osprey Poem: Lobster Pies
Illustrations from The Queen of Hearts and Sing a Song for Sixpence by Randolph Caldecott (available through Project Gutenberg)
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The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts,
All on a summer's day;
The Knave of Hearts,
He stole the tarts,
And took them clean away.
The King of Hearts
Called for the tarts,
And beat the Knave full sore;
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts,
And vowed he'd steal no more.
No discussion of early children’s literature is complete without a mention of Randolph Caldecott, the British illustrator whose work transformed children’s book publishing in the 19th century. For each Christmas during a period of eight years, Caldecott illustrated two picture books, printed largely in color and priced at a shilling each. Children eagerly awaited the books, which were usually nursery rhymes, light verse or nonsense. These beautiful but cheap books made Caldecott internationally famous. Today, the Caldecott Medal is awarded annually to the artist of the year's most distinguished American picture book for children. The illustrations on this page are from Caldecott's version of The Queen of Hearts.
Mother Osprey Poem: Lobster Pies
Illustrations from The Queen of Hearts and Sing a Song for Sixpence by Randolph Caldecott (available through Project Gutenberg)
< Back to Rhymes & Rules