Little Bo Peep and more...
Book review by Trevor Agnew
Little Bo Peep and more… (2014) Trad, ill. Donovan Bixley, Upstart Press, Auckland NZ, 32 pages, paperback ISBN 978 1 927262 08 5
This attractive picture book contains the text of four
nursery rhymes:
Little Bo Peep
Baa, baa, Black SheepMary Had a Little Lamb
Little Boy Blue
Because each of these rhymes concerns sheep, illustrator
Donovan Bixley has put them into a distinctively New Zealand setting. Using the
same witty double-page colour spreads he employed in The Wheels on the Bus (2010) and Old MacDonald’s Farm (2011), Bixley provides amusing animals,
unusual people and intriguing details to complement the familiar rhymes.
Black Sheep’s wool becomes a rugby jersey, Bo Peep’s
sheep drive tractors, Boy Blue’s horn is on the handles of his bicycle and
Mary’s lamb even follows her to ballet classes. Sharp-eyed young readers will
fall asleep as they count the sheep (some of whom play chess, climb mountains
and fly planes) or search for the pukeko (swamp hen) and mouse concealed in
each illustration. Best of all are Bixley’s special touches; look carefully at
the bathtub legs, the tractor bonnet, the side of the trailer and the
pedestrian crossing!
The endpapers feature thirty highly imaginative sheep
activities, ranging from pianoforte to cricket. Little Bo Peep and more… is a gleeful celebration of the eternal
appeal of nursery rhymes. It is also children’s book illustration at its best
Trevor Agnew
16 Oct 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment