FROGGY WENT A-COURTIN'

Cozy watercolor-and-ink compositions—a pleasing blend of delicate and cheerful—add some zing to this interpretation of the popular folk ballad about the courtship and marriage of a frog and mouse. Froggy's romantic persistence and Miss Mouse's enthusiasm (even as she demurs on matters of decorum) are the stuff of classics, made freshly entertaining here for a new generation. A dashing frog decked out in a cutaway coat and knee-high boots plus a cast of dapper insects and rodent relatives all dressed to the nines for the big wedding give young readers plenty of chipper details to explore (such as a butterfly sporting a bonnet, and a top-hatted grasshopper). In what sometimes feels like a tribute to Beatrix Potter and other nature-loving artists, Tyler (The Snail House ) delights in depicting a parallel world populated by the most likeable of flora and fauna. Tyler includes an author's note about her source material and instructs readers who are so inclined how to properly sing the rhymed couplets with emphasis. Um hum! Ages 4-7. (Jan.)