  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 08/01/2016 The authors of Grumbles from the Forest (2013) offer 14 creative and broad-ranging, if uneven, spins on Mother Goose nursery rhymes, employing varying speakers, characters, and viewpoints, some from familiar tales and others newly created. In “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” a vegetarian princess won’t eat blackbird pie. In one of two “Little Jack Horner” poems, Jack’s brother comments, “Ruined! One perfect plum. / Spoiled by a germy thumb,” while on the facing page, the plum laments the thumb-poking intrusion. In comics-style panels and set in a grocery store, “Three Blind Mice” finds the bespectacled trio explaining, “We were not blind, / just near of sight,” then animatedly recounting a chaotic cheese-foraging incident in which they craftily escaped the manager’s carving knife–wielding wife, tails intact. Whimsical, cartoonish acrylic-and-pencil illustrations incorporate playful details and decorative page embellishments, blending classic scenarios and contemporary settings and elements. Though the original versions as well as some background information are appended, this will likely resonate more with those already familiar with the tales. A playful addition to any poetry section. - Copyright 2016 Booklist. Loading...
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