Mother Ghost: Nursery Rhymes for Little Monsters

Kolar rewrites Mother Goose rhymes for zombie fans. From “Mary Had a Little Ghost” (“And everywhere that Mary went/ He followed in his shroud”) and “Little Boy Drac” (“Will you wake him? No, not I;/ My garlic breath will make him cry”) to “Wee Willie Werewolf,” she slips in all the Halloween ingredients she can think of and stays conscientious about rhyme and meter. French artist Garrigue (How to Ward Off Wolves) illustrates in the arch, crabbed ink-line style of Ronald Searle, giving long, pointed noses to people in photographs, and snaggly teeth and scribbly hair to a witch cooking stew (“Sing a song of witches, pocket full of sage”). He sticks to a palette of lavender and black with occasional splashes of orange and sickly green, and the illustrations supply background material such as deserted mansions and Venus flytraps. The poems may inspire kids to try their own spooky adaptations—there are an unlucky 13 nursery rhymes here, and “Jack and Jill” is still up for grabs. Ages 6–7. [em](July) [/em]