Review by Booklist Review
British illustrator Tony Ross offers a compendium of traditional Mother Goose verse featuring 49 nursery rhymes, each showcased on its own page or double-page spread. Beautifully produced, this large-format volume features large type, large-scale illustrations, and generous use of white space around the good-natured ink-and-watercolor illustrations. The framework story briefly introduced at the book's beginning, which depicts a girl hearing the rhymes from her grandfather, is easily forgotten until it resumes at the end. First published in England, the illustrations appearto be set in that country at various periods from the Middle Ages to the present, with the notable exception of the odd picture illustrating Rock-a-Bye Baby in which a baby and a couple in Pilgrimgarb interpret the verse in the foreground while, incongruously, teepees appear behind. Throughout the book, Ross illustrates the rhymes with craggy lines, subtle color washes, and an underlying sense of droll humor that suits them well.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this British import, Ross (Cottonball Colin) brings his signature wit to 49 classic nursery rhymes. Though Ross generally offers straightforward depictions of the verses' content, expressive characters and playful flourishes abound. The three little kittens' missing mittens reappear on their ears; a cat and mouse steal away with armfuls of bones while Old Mother Hubbard and her dog gaze into an empty cupboard; and the "little piggy" who "had none" jogs on a treadmill while a not-so-little piggy digs into a slab of roast beef. But Ross doesn't shy from the darker sides of certain poems: while some citizens dance to "Ring Around the Rosy," others are ominously lying on the ground, as a figure wearing a plague mask looks on. And in "Sing a Song of Sixpence," a blackbird-with a human nose in its beak-is chased by a maid who very clearly needs it back. Still, most of the rhymes have happy outcomes, and the book's large trim size and typeface, as well as the many kid-appealing details throughout, make it a fine story-time pick. Ages 2-6. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Ross adds his take to the overcrowded field of nursery-rhyme compilations with this quirky collection. Beginning and ending with a framing story about a grandfather reading the rhymes to a grandchild, Ross opens with "Three Little Kittens" and concludes with "Wee Willie Winkie." He uses lesser-known verses and word choices for some rhymes, such as "Cry, Baby Bunting" instead of the more common "Bye." Most pages include only one rhyme, allowing plenty of space for illustration and preventing crowding. The font is generously large and easy to read. Some more squeamish readers may take affront at Ross's dark choices for certain rhymes, such as the battlefield full of arrows, including a dead horse and arrow-felled knight illustrating "For Want of a Nail." Literalists may find it problematic that the fine lady's "white horse" is depicted as spotted in "Ride a Cock Horse." Ross's sketchy, straggling, often big-eyed artwork, while fun, is a far cry from the gentler versions by Rosemary Wells and Cynthia Long. Larger libraries with extensive collections might include this one, but others can stick with Iona Opie, Tomie dePaola, and Arnold Lobel.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
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Review by Horn Book Review
The book begins with a little girl asking her grandfather about nursery rhymes. Forty-nine rhymes follow, some on a single page and others on expansive double-page spreads. Ross's spirited illustrations include lots of thoughtful details that expand the comfortably familiar entries. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The first U.S. edition of a large-type, large-format gathering of standard Mother Goose rhymesplus the occasional interloper, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." The compiler pares "Old Mother Hubbard" and "Tom, the Piper's Son" down to one verse each, but lets "Simple Simon" ramble on for five and the title rhyme for a long four. There is no particular order or progression to the 49 selections, and a "frame story" in which Nelly asks her Granddad for a story "about real things" adds little to the experience. Aside from a Little Piggy who "had none" while exercising on a treadmill, Ross dresses everyone in old-time garb in his loosely drawn illustrations, and interprets the verses with slavish literalness. Although readers are almost certain to find one or two rhymes previously unfamiliar to them, overall it's an ordinary outing, unlikely to displace the collections illustrated by Richard Scarry or Rosemary Wells, or to make much of an impression on the diapered set. (Nursery rhymes. 2-4) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
