Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross & A Farmer Went Trotting Upon His Grey Mare

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.0

Word count: 3K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross & A Farmer Went Trotting Upon His Grey MareAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Jun 15, 2006

Editor's review

A public-domain English nursery-rhyme picture book from Project Gutenberg, collecting two classic Mother Goose rhymes: “Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross” and “A Farmer Went Trotting Upon His Grey Mare.” Classified as juvenile belles lettres, it is brief, rhymed, strongly rhythmic, and illustrated in a traditional style—suitable as read-aloud material for early English exposure and useful to readers studying English nursery rhymes, illustrated editions, and public-domain children’s literature. Its value lies in preserving the early rhymes’ original form and illustration style, offering a direct sense of English verse tradition. As a public-domain e-text, image clarity and layout depend on the specific edition, so a larger screen is advisable. For adults it is light cultural material rather than a cover-to-cover read; for shared reading, focus on rhythm and pictures rather than word-by-word explanation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Parents and preschool teachers using it for early English rhythm exposure
Researchers collecting Mother Goose rhymes and public-domain picture-book editions
Learners needing short rhymed English material for reading-aloud practice
Readers interested in early children’s illustration styles

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a complete rhyme collection or systematic annotated edition
Parents wanting modern leveled-reading guidance and exercises
Children expecting long stories or strong plots

Reading tips

During shared reading, look at the pictures and guess the content first, then read aloud rhythmically; no word-by-word translation is needed.
Clap or stamp to the beat to help children feel the rhythm of the English rhymes.
Researchers can compare different public-domain editions, noting differences in illustrations and text layout.
Zoom in on the illustrations on a tablet or computer so small screens do not obscure visual details.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for?

In content, these are short, rhymed Mother Goose rhymes, better suited to preschool to lower-primary children reading aloud and looking at pictures with an adult. Suitability also depends on the child’s exposure to English; understanding every word is not necessary—focus on rhythm and pictures.

Is this a complete collection of the rhymes?

No. According to the title and information, it contains only “Ride A Cock-Horse To Banbury Cross” and “A Farmer Went Trotting Upon His Grey Mare”—a single-piece or small public-domain picture book, not a complete Mother Goose collection.

How clear are the illustrations in the e-edition?

It is a public-domain e-text from Project Gutenberg, so illustration clarity and layout depend on the specific edition and file format. Read on a larger screen such as a tablet or computer, and prefer formats with images so small screens or plain-text versions do not lose visual detail.

Can it be used in classroom teaching?

Yes, but it is better as short material for rhythm exposure and picture-based speaking than as a systematic textbook. Teachers can use it for choral reading, beat clapping, and picture description; if leveled goals, exercises, or annotations are needed, they must be added separately, as the public-domain text provides no teaching guidance.

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.