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I SAW A SHIP A-SAILING: A Picture, Book with Mother Goose Rhymes by Beni -- Illus. Montresor

I SAW A SHIP A-SAILING: A Picture, Book with Mother Goose Rhymes

By

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 1967
Publisher: Knopf

There's an alternative subtitle that's a tip-off to the arty self-consciousness--... or The Wonderful Games That Only Little Flower-Plant Children Can Play as shown by Beni Montresor. Then there's an introduction identifying the flower-plant children as from The Witches of Venice, relating them to Mother Goose (""As she is so kind, she lets our hero and heroine use some of her rhymes in order to-tell us about themselves""), and inviting the reader to see things in his own way. What we saw were some very clever cartoons arbitrarily colored in the most, intense, and dissonant hues accompanying some of the most familiar nursery rhymes. Cartoons they are, incorporating diverse symbolism and depending frequently on words and numbers for extended implications. The art historical antecedents of this and its contemporary counterparts in other media would make an interesting study, but that has nothing to do with children Neither has the book, although some adults will undoubtedly be enthralled with it.