Ian Penney's Book of Nursery Rhymes

Embracing the dreamlike logic of traditional nursery rhymes, Penney envisions their subjects almost as figures in a jazzy antique toy store, eerie and stately all at once. His perspectives are wonderfully skewed, almost surreal, while his composition is formal and his richly colored acrylics reverberate with the feel of 17th-century England. The settings for the illustrations are in fact based on gardens, houses and pastures preserved by the National Trust in Great Britain. The 14 selections include the obvious (``Humpty Dumpty''; ``Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'') as well as lesser-known rhymes like ``Bobby Shaftoe's Gone to Sea.'' An acorn craftily buried in each spread adds to the adventure. Penney's treatment is both true to history and an aesthetic marvel for modern readers. All ages. (Dec.)