The Song of Robin Hood

Fans of Sherwood Forest and admirers of the book arts will want to see Virginia Lee Burton's design and illustrations for Song of Robin Hood, edited by Anne Malcolmson, music arranged by Grace Castagnetta. First published in 1947 and now reissued, the Caldecott Honor-winning book contains 18 classic ballads of Robin Hood's deeds, set to traditional tunes and arranged with modern musical notations. Burton supplies a lapidary sequence of intricately detailed black-and-white vignettes, one for each stanza of the different ballads; her chapter openers and borders have the delicacy of scrimshaw carvings and the robustness of illuminated manuscripts. (Houghton, $20 128p ages 8-up ISBN 0-618-07186-5; Sept.)