By Alison Jay
This is a colorful book that uses well known nursery rhymes to introduce color. Colors are only part of the story in this lively, handsome picture book that dramatizes 20 nursery rhymes with wild magic realism. Young children will enjoy spotting characters and scenarios from the rhymes that they know, from five pink piggies and Little Bo Peep's white sheep to a little teapot, short and stout.
Not all the featured nursery rhymes are sweet and merry. Miss Muffet is afraid of the big black spider for good reason; even though he only wanted to sit beside her, the picture shows that he is huge and scary. Something not very nice is happening to the three bespectacled blind mice, who leap across the double-page spread, away from a knife-wielding woman. Humpty Dumpty offers a sunnier view: it looks as though the king's horses and men may be able to help.
We often focus more on nursery rhymes rhythm and beat than on the sense in the words, and even older readers will have fun with these wry, literal looks at familiar rhymes and the stories they tell.
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