From nonsense to lessons learned, these
forty five rhymes include the very well known (Itsy
Bitsy Spider) and the somewhat familiar, (Hickety,
Pickety, my black hen). The truly fantastic pictures
speak more than one thousands words in details as
artist Scott Gustafson riffs in paint on themes present
and imagined in each verse.
Nursery rhymes
are classic and so are some of artist’s interpretations
but other paintings are surprises, like an anthropomorphic
baking bear, a pelican sea captain and Peter Piper
as a pug on two legs. Welcome to a world where “There
Was a Crooked Man” is not about a hunched-back
elder but rather a madcap, double-jointed dandy who
might be “crooked” in more ways than one.
Jack (Be Nimble) is a leaping cricket and Yankee Doodle
a fun-loving chipmunk on a full-sized horse. Scott Gustafson’s
unique style, influenced by legendary book illustrators
Arthur Rackham and N.C. Wyeth, makes this a volume
to be treasured by children and illustrated book lovers
of all ages.
Hardcover
