I'm giving this 4½**** rather than a full 5***** because it's the kind of collection which for everyone is going to include some pieces that will be preferred over others. It's a collection of nine pieces of verse each "summarizing" a literary classic and including accompanying illustrations:

• Homer, The Odyssey
• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
• Herman Melville, Moby Dick
• Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
• A Thousand and One Nights
• William Shakespeare, Hamlet
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
• Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
• Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

My own favorites are The Odyssey, Jane Eyre (perhaps expectedly, considering my LT name), and to a degree Don Quixote; my least favorite, A Thousand and One Nights and Hamlet, my dislike for these stemming from their extreme departure from the canonical originals. (This is simply a bias on my part and some readers might find such departures clever, particularly in the case of Hamlet, where the hero has become a Great Dane dog digging holes throughout Elsinore.) My standards for judging include

1. re-expressing the canonical original in a faithful (again, my bias which others might not share) but cleverly original way,
2. quality of verse, and
3. quality of illustrations.

While the quality of illustrations is uniformly talented, I am particularly taken by those of The Odyssey (a goofily cute Ulysses whose visage varies from fierce to lovable) and Jane Eyre (in which nearly every plot element is captured in just six or seven drawings). I also especially liked the limerick-styled verse of The Odyssey and, even more, Jane Eyre's take-off of "Three Blind Mice" with its gleeful but ultimately dark tone. In contrast, I found the drawings for Frankenstein a bit overdone and those for Moby Dick (along with its somewhat banal verse take-off of "Mary Had a Little Lamb") far too cheerful for the dark canonical original.

And then there's Remembrance of Things Past. A single illustration (with Proust himself somehow reminding me of Henri Rousseau's Pierre Loti). And just two lines of verse! "I dipped a sweet cake in my tea / And a whole world came back to me." Of this, Nash observes in his endnotes, "Although I have yet to finish reading this mammoth novel, I was able to craft a rhyme from what I have read, which, I am proud to say, is the shortest in the book." Could that be said more truthfully of any novel besides Finnegans Wake?

This entire collection will be a treat for any culturally literate adult, though children may find some of the material a bit puzzling. But give them time to grow into it over the years! ( )

I adore this book! Brilliant use of prose to retell each classic story for children. As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed this title and I can't wait to share it with my son. The illustrations are bright and whimsical and the phrasing is perfect. Very funny and a great way to introduce young children to classic literature. ( )

Mr. Nash's quirky and delightful take on the classics cannot fail to entertain! The illustrations and text are delightful, every bit as short, sweet, and silly as I had hoped! I enjoyed the occasional skewering of the originals, and found the whole book utterly charming. Definitely a winner, and a book I will gift to other book fiends! ( )

This book is a fun way to tell the stories that are these classics. My children were unfamiliar with the stories in this book, but have wanted to hear more about them since we read Shrunken Treasures. This book engages children, and helps them to become interested in literary classics. ( )

Very fun! As with most parody, it's funnier if you know the original, but I like the idea of short, fun, rhyming introductions to classics for kids. The illustrations remind me of Lane Smith, which further adds to the "fractured tale" feel of the book. Like the other Nash, this author has quite a way with (just a few) words!