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A Medley

A nursery rhyme from The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, by Walter Jerrold and Charles Robinson

This nursery rhyme comes from The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, compiled by Walter Jerrold and illustrated by Charles Robinson in the early twentieth century. It is a nonsense verse in the English tradition—a playful string of impossible events that delight young listeners. On Christmas Eve, everyday kitchen objects come alive: a ladle quarrels with a frying-pan, a pot dances, and even the clock has an opinion. This kind of rhyme teaches children that language can be a game, that the world of the imagination has no ceiling, and that the everyday can become magical. This text reflects its era.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5

Length

short · about 366 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

The Big Book of Nursery Rhymes, Walter Jerrold and Charles Robinson

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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