With its Punch-like clowns, knicker-clad children and beribboned maidens, this comprehensive anthology of well-known nursery rhymes is deliciously old-fashioned. The verses are organized loosely into nine sometimes puzzling categories--including Girls and Boys Come Out to Play, The Lion and the Unicorn, If Ifsstet and Ands--making the index of first lines at the end of the book indispensable for locating a particular favorite.
More than 150 rhymes are packed into this chunky book, with Jones's muted, intricately detailed illustrations alternating between full-color and black-and-white drawings. From Bo-Peep to Jack Sprat, from the grand old Duke of York to Mother Goose herself, this compendium of English verses is as familiar and satisfying as Jack Horner's Christmas pie.
