Mary Had a Little Lamb

These two titles in the Nursery Village series exude an insouciant charm. Both books expand upon their original stories, picking up subplots and other fairy-tale characters along the way like a rolling snowball. When Mary's frisky lamb ``wandered off to see what he could find,'' he passes Little Boy Blue and Little Bo Peep and encounters a nasty, gnarled witch. Jumping into a convenient caldron to escape her clutches, the poor creature is turned a ghastly green but is washed clean by Jack and Jill's spilled water. This colorful caper teaches him a lesson, however: ``Now everywhere that Mary goes / the lamb is sure to go.'' In the second book, the old woman and her charges attempt to mend ``an enormous great hole'' in the overcrowded shoe, but to no avail. Realizing that a superhuman cobbler is needed, the resourceful brood climb Jack's beanstalk and bribe the giant with the goose that laid the golden egg. The Macleans' effortless--for the most part--singsong verse and perky, cartoony characters offer engaging variations on some familiar themes. Ages 5-8. (June)