Review of "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Seamy and Quirky Stories Behind Favorite Nursery Rhymes," by Chris Roberts

 Review of

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Seamy and Quirky Stories Behind Favorite Nursery Rhymes, by Chris Roberts ISBN 1592401309

Five out of five stars

Interesting backstories of children’s verses

 It is well known that many nursery rhymes were based on the parody and satire of political leaders. Of course, in the early days, a criticism of a sovereign could easily cause you to literally lose your head. While Roberts does not claim to be an expert in the area of children’s literature, his knowledge of the field is sufficient to write an interesting historical recapitulation of many of the most famous nursery rhymes.

 While many of them have a fairly specific point of origin, there are some whose genesis is lost to history. There are others with more than one plausible initial rendering. One point well made is that some of them are quite violent and brutal. Many of them also contain very clear sexual inuendo. For example, the one that opens with, “Run-dub-dub, three men in a tub” has clear gay connotations to the modern reader. It is actually based on an earlier verse where the line is, “Three maids in a tub.” In that version, the hint is that the three men were peeking in on the maids in their bath. It was an allusion to an old-fashioned peep show.

 This is a fun book to read, it is very educational to learn the origins of some of the most well known stories ostensibly for children. The reality that they were not originally meant for children increases the fun.

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