Monday, May 20, 2019

Review - Marigold Garden

Marigold Garden
by Kate Greenaway
Date: 1885
Publisher: Frederick Warne & Co.
Reading level: C
Book type: illustrated poetry collection
Pages: 56
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library

Pictures and Rhymes. A collection of illustrated poems about various activities of childhood.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Here's an old one! This is an illustrated collection of poems from 1885 by Kate Greenaway. I read another of her books recently, an alphabet book called A Apple Pie. I think my favourite thing about her books is the illustrations.

Many of the poems in this volume are rather dated and show some appalling attitudes toward children. (One in particular espouses the "children should be seen and not heard" idea, to an uncomfortable degree. It's a wonder children were able to develop their language skills at all, since they were apparently not allowed to speak!)

Some of the rhymes are charming, if simple and saccharine. The book is also very, very white. Blue eyes are worshipped, and all the illustrated children are fair-skinned and upper class. I do love the outfits they're wearing, though I don't know how historically accurate they are (the fashions seem to be from a lot earlier than those of the 1880s; maybe Greenaway was going for a historical look).

Overall, this isn't terrible, but it's quaint and kind of naive. It's interesting to see what passed for children's literature back in the 1880s, though.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.14 out of 5 ladybugs

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