Lavender's Blue: A Book of Nursery Rhymes

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 paperback, 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. All ages. (June)