Gris Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhymes
Grade 4-6-These takeoffs on standard nursery rhymes have all the subtlety of grade school and adolescent gross-out jokes. For example, the true story of Jack and Jill is one of murder: "Jill pushed Jack unto his death/when he had paused to catch his breath./She felt remorse for the first time/and threw herself not far behind." Bo Peep complains about her sheep and then "She thought about what should be done,/and then went on to eat each one." The illustrations are stylized and dark, reminiscent of Tim Burton's animated characters. Nursery rhymes have been parodied to brilliant satirical effect in Eve Merriam's Inner City Mother Goose (S & S, 1996). Jack Prelutsky's collections of eerie poems, such as Nightmares (1976) and The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight (1980, both Greenwillow), remain the scary poem gold standard. This collection is obvious and trite.Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, MECopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.