What Makes a Mother Goose a Mother Goose?

Mother Goose in Flight

Images of Mother Goose in flight confirm her place in the realm of the imagination and invite young readers to follow on her flights of fancy. Sometimes she is a goose in flight, but more often we see an elderly woman riding a goose as befits the only rhyme in these collections about her.

Old Mother Goose,
When she wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.

In the images that follow, notice the variation in the size and the demeanor of the goose she rides. How does each artist handle the problem of having a human ride a goose? Is there a steering mechanism? Over what does Mother Goose fly? In what direction does she fly---is it with or against the turning pages of the book? More importantly, note the distinctively different appearances and moods of the characters representing both Mother Goose herself and the goose she rides. In the next to last illustration, Mother Goose recedes to the background with Father Gander in the foreground.

The final, and most innovative, illustration of Mother Goose in flight was created by Leo and Diane Dillon for the book Wings of an Artist.

When faced with illustrating a subject that has been done many times before, our first thought is how we can show it in a new way. Mother Goose conjures up images of a sweet old lady telling stories to a group of rapt children. Upon further thought, we wondered how she got her stories and rhymes. She has a great imagination, of course, but she might like some new adventures and inspiration. That is why we created a flying machine for her. Now she can soar amongst the clouds with her beloved geese to faraway lands with new tales to tell.