cover image The Rebus Treasury

The Rebus Treasury

Jean Marzollo, Carol Devine Carson. Dial Books, $14.95 (63pp) ISBN 978-0-8037-0254-7

Here, 41 favorite nursery rhymes and songs have been set in large type on uncluttered pages and turned into rebuses. The unique rebus illustrations are rubber-stamp images and Carson's colored pencil drawings. The stamp art is derived from 19th century engravings and 20th century line drawingsan inspired idea for illustrating this type of book. Unfortunately, many of the visual clues are ambiguous. The pictures for ""night'' and ``sky'' are two similar patches of blue, except when the latter is two clouds or an orange sun in a colored sky. A nice concept, but more clarity would have helped. (2-up)