Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists

-- "fifty classic verses illustrated in comics form by today's greatest cartoonists!" (2011, First Second Books)

This is a extraordinarily entertaining book. Fifty great illustrators, including many familiar to me, such as Nick Bruel, Jules Feiffer, Eleanor Davis, David Macaulay, and Gene Luen Yang, to name just a few, offer interpretations of classic nursery rhymes in wonderfully entertaining graphic novel style. 
Some interpretations are Dark (the introduction of a hungry wolf family into This Little Piggie by Cyril Pedrosa makes for a marvelous little story--not all the pigs make it safely home....), some are lovely and evocative (Stephanie Yue makes Hickory Dickory Dock into a mouse world fantasy), and David Macaulay's London Bridge is Falling Down offers three pages of the wonderful detail one expects from him. 
Some are aimed at young readers of picture books, some seem created for older readers And some (like James Stern's take on Jack Be Nimble) use the graphic panel form to add snarky and amusing subtext to the original verse.

I could go on and on....but the short answer is--this is Great Fun! It is much like a gourmet box of mixed chocolates--lots of variety, with something for every taste (although of course not everyone will like everything, and there were a few that didn't appeal to me), and makes a great gift! 

More at Charlotte's Library blog.

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