Mother Goose to the rescue!

PreS-K--A heroic Mother Goose stars in this fully reimagined fairy-tale romp. When a tart-baking accident leads to flames engulfing the castle of the King and Queen of Hearts, the firefighters race to quench the fire. Fire chief Mother Goose leads a racially diverse crew, enlisting them with "Hickory, dickory, dock! Let's race to beat the clock! Gear up in forty seconds flat. Strap on boots, striped coats, and hats." Readers will spot Old King Cole, Mary and her lamb, Little Boy Blue, Mary of contrary fame, Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet, Itsy-Bitsy spider, Jack from the beanstalk, and more. Each character contributes with their best nursery rhyme-based skills to get those flames out. For example, Jack and Jill fetch water, Little Boy Blue drives and blows the fire engine horn, Itsy-Bitsy aims the water spout. This clever conceit is matched with great rhymes and a fun-to-act-out text. The crisp and colorful illustrations in a mix of full- and half-page spreads complete this eminently readable tale. VERDICT A plethora of nursery rhyme characters make up the crew in this fast-paced rhyming tale of firefighting derring-do, subverting Mother Goose tropes and delivering lots of punch. Pair with the traditional rhymes.--Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Lib., Troy, NH

When there's a fire to be tackled, only a qualified nursery-rhyme crew will do! Pink-coiffed Mother Goose may look demure when reading in her House of Rhyme, but when there is danger, she springs into action! The Queen of Tarts is facing a bakery fire, so it's up to the famous fowl and her crew of multiracial nursery-rhyme characters to put it out. After "gear[ing] up in forty seconds flat," everyone races to the fire. At the blaze, they display a wide array of different firefighting techniques, including the use of water cannons, a fire ax, dirt, a bucket brigade, and helicopters with bucket scoops (loaded with jam). The familiar stars of everyone's favorite rhymes pair nicely with this technical know-how of equipment and expertise. Chief M. Goose herself commands from a "high-tech rig" tricked out with radios and a satellite. Rhymes scan consistently, and female-presenting characters are given just as much agency as their male-presenting counterparts. Insider nursery-rhyme jokes also abound. For example, the last readers see of the heroic squad, they're heading off to answer an emergency call from Ladybug. One might quibble about the fact that dumping jam on a fire would almost certainly intensify it, but in the end the book's having too much fun to care. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22% of actual size.) Firefighter-loving kids will jump over candlesticks to get their hands on these cute and capable emergency workers. (Picture book. 2-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.