Nick Butterworth's Book of Nursery Rhymes (Viking Kestrel picture books)
Although this collection includes only 22 rhymes, Butterworth's elaborate, full-page paintings are artistic gems. His detail-packed illustrations display unusual creativity and imagination; repeated viewings will yield myriad comic touches. In "Early to bed, / Early to rise," a wise owl nestles in a brass bed, trophies adorning his walls, money stashed under his bed--and teeth in a glass beside him. The noted "black sheep" will not be shorn of his fur: he is, as his shop's sign proclaims, "B. B. Blacksheep, Wool Merchant." A particularly clever device is the use of objects pertinent to each verse to form an opening "illuminated" letter--a clock's pendulums form the "H" to begin "Hickory, dickory, dock"; a tea strainer becomes the "P" in "Polly put the kettle on." All of the scenarios here are drolly unexpected, and breathe joyous new life into old favorites. Ages 3-8.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.