Miss Mary Mack

The clapping-songs and ring-games children kept, and passed hand to hand, a hundred years and more.

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About this edition

Before childhood had a screen, children carried a whole world of games in their heads: clapping-songs and ring-games, counting-out rhymes and games of chase, and passed them, mouth to mouth, from one generation to the next.

Here that world is gathered anew for young readers: the words to sing, and simple directions for play. From Miss Mary Mack to London Bridge, Ring Around the Rosie to hide-and-seek, they are all still here, and still waiting. Clapping games for two, ring-games for a whole grassy afternoon, and the counting-out rhymes that choose who is It.

The games are freely drawn from William Wells Newell’s landmark 1883 collection and retold for today: the scholarship set aside, the rhymes gently mended, and each game given a warm word and a plain how-to-play. Miss Mary Mack, all dressed in black, keeps the door.

Details

• Freely drawn from William Wells Newell (1839–1907)
• A new compilation of traditional games and songs, retold for children
• Solocosmo Press
• The Lightbound Library
• Hardcover, 6 × 9, 50 pages