The beloved English nursery rhyme springs to vivid life through Randolph Caldecott's pioneering picture book artistry. Published in 1883, this work showcases the illustrations that would establish Caldecott as the namesake of American children's literature's highest honor - images that essentially invented the modern picture book form, where illustration and text dance together in playful conversation. A frog, dapper and besotted, sets off through the English countryside to court Miss Mousey. Along the way he befriends a rat, and together they arrive at her door for what promises to be a merry evening of songs and courtship. But the merriment takes a deadly turn when the cat appears with her kittens - and then a duck intervenes with catastrophic results for our amorous amphibian. Darkly comic and surprisingly violent by modern standards, this is a window into a Victorian childhood where nursery rhymes didn't shy away from grim fates. Caldecott's illustrations brim with personality and motion, making this essential for anyone interested in the history of children's literature or the origins of the picture book itself.
