Fifty nursery rhymes have been given visual treatment by fifty different artists from the world of comics and graphic novels, picture books, and cartooning in this scintillating volume. Some artists take a literal approach and others take familiar verses to unexpected places. Cyril Pedrosa’s “This Little Piggy” is darkly funny, Drew Weing’s “Baa Baa Black Sheep” delightfully surprising, Mo Oh’s “Hush Little Baby” comic and tender. Craig Thompson heightens the sensuality and romance of “The Owl and the Pussycat” with his visual storytelling. And who knew “The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe” was an aging, guitar playing hippie running a daycare? Artist Lucy Knisley did. Leonard S. Marcus’s introduction and Chris Duffy’s editor’s note offer insightful commentary on the nursery rhyme’s place in both literature and literacy (although suggesting the text of this particular volume is accessible to beginning readers is a stretch with the varied fonts and nonlinear layout on many pages). Despite the nursery rhyme theme, older children and teens will find pleasure and inspiration in the pages of this singular, brilliant work. (Age 7 and older)