Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme

by Chris Roberts

Book Overview

Was Little Jack Horner a squatter? Baa Baa Black Sheep? a bleat about taxation? What did Jack and Jill do on that hill? Who was Mary? And why was she contrary?This witty and ingenious book delves into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592401309
• ISBN13: 9781592401307
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Gotham Books
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Read

An excellent product of solid research and study that desribes the real stories behind the classic nursery rhymes. Great work!

Charles, Cromwell, Henry, and Jack

What an interesting way to study history. Who knew how so many familiar rhymes came out of specific periods of history? Well, I guess Chris Roberts did. HEAVY WORDS was a useful tool in my English classes to help them create simple rhymes to highlight current political events and themes.

You'll never look at Mother Goose quite the same way

Was Jack Horner a squatter? Why was Mary so contrary? And what made Gorgy Porgy run? The history beyond common nursery rhymes is covered in a lively survey of rhyme meaning and origins in Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind The Rhyme. Here are quirky tales and realities: once you read Heavy Words, you'll never look at Mother Goose quite the same way!

heavy words

This was a very enjoyable book. Light, but interesting reading. I even bought an extra as a gift.

Enchanting!

Nowhere are false etymologies more rampant than in the genre of nursery rhyme interpretation. Chris Roberts, using meticulous scholarly methodology, has traced the rhythms of our childhoods to their true origins, and does so with captivating pizzazz. He has performed the dusty scholarship so that we don't have to, and often he finds that our favorite nonsense rhymes are just...nonsense. Wonderful book.