cover image Elephants Never Forget

Elephants Never Forget

Chronicle Books, Graham Percy. Chronicle Books, $12.95 (38pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-0239-0

Personable pachyderms populate this collection of 18 traditional nursery rhymes. Percy puts a mischievous spin on old favorites as he gives Miss Muffet, Little Boy Blue and Jack Sprat trunks, wrinkled gray skin and very large feet. The artist's soft colored-pencil illustrations gently amuse without resorting to broad comedy--more subdued than in some collections, they nonetheless serve as effective accompaniments to the classic verses. Each spread consists of a verse on the left-hand page (set against ample white space and accompanied by a tiny pastel drawing of the verse's central character) opposite a scene from the rhyme. Mother Goose herself would be pleased with such a jolly presentation. Ages 2-6. (Oct.)