Alasdair voices nursery rhymes in new release

The Luath Treasury of Scottish Nursery Rhymes, first published by Luath Press in 2016, contains some 125 nursery rhymes in Scots which Alasdair hopes will encourage more children to appreciate the Scots language of the rural lowlands.

“While I was compiling the book I realised that the use and understanding of Scots, which I knew as a child, was already slipping away. So even this book has been tailored to fit what I hope remains of the understanding of Scots among today’s children,” said Alasdair.

Alasdair, a former Scottish Borders Council Convener and voice of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for 30 years, scoured old books of Scottish nursery rhymes to gather the collection.

“Collecting the rhymes was good fun and nostalgic as I turned up the rhymes I knew when I was growing up. I hope that a paperback edition of these poems will bring as much pleasure to a new generation as they did to me,” he said.

“In this little book I have gathered some of the best loved of the rhymes which Scottish children have heard for centuries. Most of them are old, some of them are very old, but all of them have weathered the years and shown their staying power and each one has helped to imbue every child who has heard them with a love of the rhythm and music of words.”

“In this book you will find not just the words, but Bob Dewar has brought the old verses to life with the vivid imagination of his drawings,” Alasdair added.

Alasdair has also written for children, The Tattoo Fox, The Tattoo Fox Makes New Friends, Mustard and Pepper and The Castle Cat with another book in the pipeline in addition to Scotland’s Greatest Storyteller about Sir Walter Scott for older youngsters.