One Potato, Two Potato: The Folklore of American Children

Rating:
Summary: Games children play - and where the games came from....
Review: One Potato, Two Potato is the story of children's games, chants, jump-rope rhymes, and school yard folklore. I first encountered this book when I was in college (about 20 years ago), and was enchanted with the amount of research done for this work. I was also amazed at the memories it brought back, and the sheer amount of "stuff" I have forgotten over the years. Reading it again brings back memories of both times, college and childhood.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, but not for preschoolers
Review: Oops! Whoever assigned the reading level to this book was confused. This is a book for adults on the history and meaning of children's folklore. I first read it for a class I took on multicultural education, and now use it sometimes in a college course I teach on play. It's fascinating and brings back a lot of childhood memories. It has words to rhymes I had forgotten and directions for making the fortune tellers we used when I was in grade school. It's a wonderful book, but parents who order it for their young children will be disappointed!