Most fun from ‘Peepo!’

Press, 13 February 1982, Page 17

Most fun from ‘Peepo!’

Popular Nursery Rhymes. By Jennifer Mulherin. Granada, 1981. 160 pp. $21.95. My First Fun to Learn Book. Purnell Books, 1981. $6.45. William Tell. By Nina Bawden. Illustrated by Pascale AHSmand. Cape, 1981. $10.95. Pinocchio. By Janet Yamata. Chatto and Windus, 1981. $9.95. Peepol By Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Kestrel Penguin, 1981. $11.50. (Reviews by Ruth Zanker) Walter De la Mare said of nursery rhymes “fantastic and nonsensical they may be; they are a direct short cut into poetry itself." There are many ravishing anthologies of nursery rhymes to choose from, some being reprints of favourite old editions, others boldly illustrated by artists like Brian Wildsmith. Jennifer Mulherin’s new edition should attract many parents because the selection is familiar and the illustrations are picked from various well-known Victorian and early twentieth-century artists such as Kate Greenaway. Arthur Rackham and Charles Robinson. There is also a fascinating left hand column, for adults, explaining the origins of the poems. It is a fairly large book, best used in shared sessions with children.

“My Fun to Learn Book" is infuriating. It is a paperback dressed up as a hardback. $6.45 is not a “use and throwaway price,” yet after an energetic session a child could gut this book of anything that tooks its fancy. New versions of old tales are always welcome. The story of William Tell has

the elements of a “ripping yarn." The text of “William Tell" is sophisticated and I am not sure to whom the book is aimed because the pictures would appeal to a younger age group. The illustrations, facing pages of bold black print, are brightly coloured and deliberately naive. The storm on the lake, during which William escapes the clutches of the evil Gessler. is painted in marvellous blues and blacks. The retelling of “Pinocchio" is fun, but cute, and lacks verve. The “peep-show" format can be turned into a mobile or read as a book. The illustrations are “Disney-quaint.” The most effective popout shows Pinocchio and Gepotto. his master, half-way down a whale’s throat. I agree with my baby son that the most delightful book in this selection is “Peepo!" by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. It is a “peep” book with a difference. On the left-hand page sits or stands a contented baby in cot, pram, bath and so on, and in the right-hand page is cut a circular hole showing a tantalising part of what the baby can see. A turn of the page reveals gloriously cluttered drawings of Allan Ahlberg’s own childhood home in England during the war. Oxo packets, “Picture Post,” the vegetable patch, even a blimp create an irresistible piece of time-travel to be enjoyed by parents and grandparents playing this universal baby-game. The illustrations are delicious in their detail and the verses have an infectious skip to them. This is a book to be savoured many times by both adults and children.