Nine Little Goslings

Nursery rhymes provide the headings for nine children's stories in Susan Coolidge's collection. The opening piece, Curly Locks, follows Johnnie Carr as she recovers from a fever in Burnet. Her sisters have cared for her, but her recovery brings worries about her appearance and dissatisfaction with ordinary life. Reading about a girl with wealthy relations makes Johnnie long for travel and fine things. News of a visit from Miss Inches, a rich friend of her mother's, gives those wishes a new focus.

The Lady Bird section moves to a garden picnic, where Lota serves cakes made with rose leaves and sugar, comments on her guests' manners, and corrects the spelling in a diary. Such small incidents place children's hopes, games, and rules of conduct at the center of the book. An opening poem pays tribute to Mother Goose and the nursery songs remembered in adulthood. Readers interested in family stories and nineteenth-century ideas about growing up will find both affectionate care and pointed lessons in these scenes.