THREE LITTLE KITTENS AND OTHER FAVORITE NURSERY RHYMES

The first U.S. edition of a large-type, large-format gathering of standard Mother Goose rhymes—plus the occasional interloper, such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” The compiler pares “Old Mother Hubbard” and “Tom, the Piper’s Son” down to one verse each, but lets “Simple Simon” ramble on for five and the title rhyme for a long four. There is no particular order or progression to the 49 selections, and a “frame story” in which Nelly asks her Granddad for a story “about real things” adds little to the experience. Aside from a Little Piggy who “had none” while exercising on a treadmill, Ross dresses everyone in old-time garb in his loosely drawn illustrations, and interprets the verses with slavish literalness. Although readers are almost certain to find one or two rhymes previously unfamiliar to them, overall it’s an ordinary outing, unlikely to displace the collections illustrated by Richard Scarry or Rosemary Wells, or to make much of an impression on the diapered set. (Nursery rhymes. 2-4)