THE FARMER IN THE DELL

A favorite song of childhood gets Wallner's sprightly folk-art treatment in pen-and-ink and watercolor. The rural landscapes, done in a palette dominated by green, brown, orange, and yellow, have the look of crazy quilts pieced from calico. A field dotted with pumpkins intersects another dotted with haycocks, which butts up against an apple orchard, bordered by a sinuous strip of road. Interiors move the story forward; after the ""the wife takes a child,"" the household falls into disarray, but is restored when ""the child takes a nurse."" A pouncing cat and the thieving rat propel things along, until the cheese stands alone. The music and lyrics are provided on the final page of this charming work.