About the Books

My Village, Rhymes from Around the World is the brainchild of a new mum, who, from her Auckland (New Zealand) home, sought to find unusual and beautiful rhymes for her newborn son. 

The result is a collection of nursery verses for young children (and the young at heart) to be chosen as a companion book to traditional Mother Goose titles. From Iran to Iceland, Samoa to Switzerland, readers can delight in quirky, touching and funny verses from 22 different countries, brought to life by the artwork from exciting young illustrator, Mique Moriuchi, who captures each verse with a uniquely beautiful and child's-eye focus.

See Media section for some reviews and information about awards or purchase from our online shop from anywhere in the world.

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The idea for the book started in my son's nursery when he was a few weeks old and took almost 3 years to develop into a published product.

With the help of all involved and the talent and charm of illustrator Mique Moriuchi, the process has been great fun, if at times very hard work! Thanks to Gecko Press publisher Julia Marshall for her patience and good humour.

THE SEARCH FOR RHYMES 

Throughout the process I was constantly amazed at the generosity of time and the genuine passion for the project of the librarians, linguists, embassies, elders, translators, poets, friends and others who made this website and book possible -thank you!!

Some of my searching led me to interesting places - for instance, the first cut of rhymes contained one that was quoted as a Scandinavian nursery rhyme but ended up on further investigation as the lyrics to a Ricky Wilde pop song! Another had an English translation of "sugar spun with cotton candy" but on checking the translation it was revealed as "cut, cut his head off"!

Other rhymes that I loved just didn't work well in translation for this book - like the poignant Thai rhyme about the Tsunami tides washing a mother's only child out to sea.

I had some interesting conversations with Jamaicans on a web forum who seemed to find my quest for rhymes endlessly amusing as they said their children were too tired from working for them all day out in the field to need a nursery rhyme to fall asleep! Their good humour (yet hilarious evasion of any sensible answers to my questions) was entertaining.

Norwegian and Icelandic people were incredibly helpful and my husband was often asking who on earth I was calling in the middle of the night and I'd say "Oh, it's just Ragnheidur in Iceland". I hope to visit Norway & Iceland very soon!

THE SEARCH FOR AN ILLUSTRATOR

Before finding Mique Moriuchi we looked at a couple of illustrators - one had just had a baby and the other was booked up for three years - similar situations really! At one point we also looked into using the wonderful textile designer Jennifer Pudney, who kindly made a fantastic sample for us. I found Mique's work on Arena Works' website (chosen randomly from a Children's Illustrator Yearbook) and couldn't have been happier - every illustration she sent I thought "wow" and I knew we had found the perfect person for the job. Mique and her agent Caroline Thomson were brilliant to work with and Mique's ability to get the child's eye perspective is spot on.

THE SEARCH FOR AN INTRODUCTION 

The final icing on the cake came when trying to think up someone to write an introduction. I read an article on the Guardian website about Michael Rosen, a favourite author and the new Children's Laureate in the UK. I sent him an email late one Sunday night thinking I'd never hear from him again as he's so popular and busy but amazingly, he replied straight away and after reading the rhymes said that he would do it - I couldn't believe it! His work in promoting minority languages and his ability to put fun into even the most difficult subjects appealed to me and I liked the way he aimed to do one thing every day that he could be proud of - good daily advice!

A PRODUCT OF ENCOURAGEMENT 

And that's a bit of background and a bit of a thank you to everyone involved in My Village - from my very first conversations with Michelia Ward at Trade Aid and Carolynne Jurriaans/Joris de Bres of the Human Rights Commission, who were so encouraging of my idea to make me think it was more than just the sleep-deprived ramblings of a new mum - to today and a place to share the rhymes with you - I hope you enjoy them! Without encouragement, this book would never exist, so don't underestimate the power of encouraging people . . .

More books in the series are also planned so watch this space.