Out Came the Sun: A Day in Nursery Rhymes

Collins arranges 45 mostly familiar nursery rhymes in a sun-up to sundown romp starring a multi-species stuffed animal family, who made similar appearances in her Traditional Fairy Tales series of board books. After baby animals eagerly rouse her, a plush mother hen presides over the preparation of breakfast to “pat-a-cake” and clean up to “higglety, pigglety, pop,” wherein a droopy-eared puppy earns the otherwise even-tempered hen’s ire by eating a mop. Then the group fans out over an idyllic town and countryside, and Collins adapts the rhymes in sometimes unexpected ways. “One, two, buckle my shoe,” for instance, culminates in the building of a raft once sticks have been picked up and laid straight. Despite being put to bed, the animals head out for one last activity (“Boys and girls come out to play,/ The moon doth shine as bright as day”). Collins’s watercolors display just enough verve and domestic humor to keep her subjects from turning twee; the mercurial, rambunctious pigs (who almost come to blows in “Who made the pie?”) are particularly vivid. Although this category is a crowded one, the manageable size and good-natured fun make this volume stand out. Ages 6 mos.-3 yrs. (Oct.)