By cartoonists Nick Abadzis; Andrew Arnold; Kate Beaton; Vera Brosgol; Nick Bruel; Scott Campbell; Lilli Carre; Roz Chast; JP Coovert; Jordan Crane; Rebecca Dart; Eleanor Davis; Vanessa Davis; Theo Ellsworth; Matt Forsythe; Jules Feiffer; Bob Flynn; Alexis Frederick-Frost; Ben Hatke; Gilbert Hernandez; Jaime Hernandez; Lucy Knisley; David Macaulay; Mark Martin; Patrick McDonnell; Mike Mignola; Tony Millionaire; Tao Nyeu; George O’Connor; Mo Oh; Eric Orchard; Laura Park; Cyril Pedrosa; Lark Pien; Aaron Renier; Dave Roman; Marc Rosenthal; Stan Sakai; Richard Sala; Mark Siegel; James Sturm; Raina Telgemeier; Craig Thompson; Richard Thompson; Sara Varon; Jen Wang; Drew Weing; Gahan Wilson; Gene Luen Yang; Stephanie Yue; and an introduction by Leonard Marcus.
This collection brings together 50 known cartoonists to illustrate 50 famous nursery rhymes in their own unique styles. Some give quite literal illustrations, while others take things in a completely original direction. All present something fun and curious to read though, with fantastic and fanciful drawings on every page. They range from from the incredible cuteness of the donkey lifting his horn "To wake the world this sleepy morn" so expertly portrayed by Patrick McDonnell, to Lucy Knisley's decidedly different visual take on There Was and Old Woman Who Lived in A Shoe. The old woman in this version is Ruth of Ruth's Rock n Roll Babysitting Service. Ruth is an old woman wearing a skull t-shirt and sporting tattoos on both arms. Her rock band is the whips, and the kids sleep off an afternoon of rock and roll till their parents come and pick them up. Quite a few of the comics are faithful interpretations of each rhyme, such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider. There's a spider, there's a spout and he gets all washed out, the only addition is that he's carrying luggage. Cute stuff! Jack Be Nimble is mad because he jumped over a candlestick - the last frame shows a decidedly red bottom! Solomon Grundy is a bit creepy, and Croak said the Toad is just beautifully illustrated.
This collection is great fun, I purchased to send to my niece and nephews and hope they laugh out loud as much as I did.