MAINLY MOTHER GOOSE: SONGS AND RHYMES FOR MERRY YOUNG SOULS Lois & Bram Sharon Elephant Records, 1984. Phonodisc. 1-12", 33 l/3rpm, stereo. $9.95. Distributed by Elephant Records, Box 101, Station Z, Toronto, Ont.,M5N2Z3. Pre-School - Grade 2. Reviewed by Maryleah Otto. Volume 12 Number 6 1984 November Sharon, Lois and Bram are back again, this time with a potpourri of nursery rhymes, songs, and ditties for "merry young souls." There are over sixty individual pieces on the record, in four languages, covering a wide range of familiar nursery rhymes and a smattering of lesser-known verses and songs in a medley of musical styles. Some of the themes include several selections; for example, "rain," "riding and marching," "food," and "cats and mice" each have three or four different songs or rhymes. All three vocalists sing well and maintain the humorous camaraderie that characterizes most of their work. Lucio Agostini and Paul Mills, who did the instrumental arrangements, have achieved just the right touch for material intended for such a young audience, and, technically, the recording is excellent, although the volume could have been brought up a bit during the children's recitations, which are interspersed with the music. The eclectic combination of musical instruments is intriguing: fiddle sticks, English horn, musical saw, tuba, psaltery, mandolin, Jew's harp, and so on. This disc will be more useful when taken in small doses rather than all at once, for there is so much on it that listening to it in its entirety is almost too much. Anyone who works with preschool children will find in it a gold mine of ideas for songs and fingerplays. The only real fault I found was in some of the children's parts, which lack spontaneity and occasionally sound unnaturally forced. Nonetheless, Mainly Mother Goose is a joyful addition to the record bin, at home, at school, or in the library. Maryleah Otto, Etobicoke P. L., Etobicoke, ON.