The dramatic events that Browning recorded in 1842 unfold as if they occurred yesterday in Peen’s computer-generated illustrations, which show a historical setting but are unmistakably contemporary. Tugging at both the medieval and modern time periods, these scenes have bold, black, shivering lines and flat expanses of colors in subdued hues, overlaid by different color shapes. The details in this city, from the pillaging rats to the gluttonous council members, bring Browning’s lesson home, although the details of the narrative, in the stylized art, are more abstract. Combining the Kate Greenaway edition and this one at a story hour would comprise the perfect launch for discussion of illustrators and their choices, and the stylistic differences between children’s book art of the last century and this one. (Picture book. 5-9)
