Mother Goose Picture Puzzles
Gr K-3 Hillenbrand illustrates 20 familiar Mother Goose rhymes in a large-format collection that captures the cheerful, rambunctious spirit of these traditional rhymes in mixed-media artwork. The broad double-page spreads offer plenty of space for the large-scale images and for the small pictures that replace two or more words in each verse. With the rebus images appearing larger within the main illustration along with the words they replace, there s plenty here for pre-readers to puzzle over, guess, and enjoy. Another guessing game element that will keep kids coming back is the hunt for a detail in each picture that hints at the selection illustrated on the next spread. For instance, the artwork for Baa, Baa, Black Sheep shows a little shepherdess in the far distance. Turn the page to see her in the foreground of the picture for Little Bo Peep, which includes a row of corn, foreshadowing Little Boy Blue. A fresh, playful introduction to Mother Goose. --Booklist March 1, 2011Gr K-3 To market, to market comes a new collection of nursery rhymes jazzed up by a rebus format. A large trim size gives Hillenbrand (Don t Slam the Door!) ample room to create cheerful scenes in which familiar characters cavort. But his playful tweaks in visually depicting both verse and action make this outing special. Each uncluttered, mixed-media spread features a rhyme (mostly well-known classics, including Jack and Jill, Miss Muffet, and Humpy Dumpty), which appears in large font with pictures in place of some of the words. The same rebus pictures appear and are labeled in the main art on the page, so readers can make connections between words and images. Gently humorous touches abound: King Cole is a jollylooking lion, and his fiddlers three are none other than the three blind mice; Wee Willie Winkie is wee indeed he s a mouse. This volume works as a nifty guessing game for early readers (some of the rebus pictures will be more obvious than others), and the beloved rhymes and detail-rich artwork should earn the project an enthusiastic audience. --PW January 31, 2011