MONSTER GOOSE

In “monstrous” revisions of some traditional Mother Goose rhymes, Sierra plays to an audience of modern youngsters who adore ghouls and gore. Most of the poems follow the general rhyming patterns and meters of the originals. But the images are all Sierra’s. Little Miss Mummy keeps her guts in a jar and a spider inside her. There are three piranhas waiting to pounce in “Rub-a-Dub-Dub.” The zombie who lives in a shoe has maggots. Cannibal Horner eats people potpie. Davis’s acrylic and colored-pencil illustrations are appropriately amusing and disgusting. The layout is imaginative and visually exciting. Each poem, with one exception, covers one-fourth of a two-page spread, while the illustration covers the remaining three-quarters and seems to spill over onto the text. The layout poses a problem in a few instances, when key elements of the illustration disappear in the fold and spoil the continuity. In addition, there is one poem in which the text is presented in scattered ribbons across both pages, so the eye does not scan the lines in correct order. But the poems and illustrations are great fun and should achieve a delighted reaction of “E-e-e-w Gross.” Images of a killer tomato, vampire sheep, and those lurking piranhas in the bathtub might be just a bit nightmarish for really young readers. But it’s a fiendishly good time for everyone else. (Poetry. 8-11)