Three Young Rats and Other Rhymes

Best known as the creator of the mobile, Alexander Calder turned his extraordinary talents in a variety of directions. Nowhere is his exuberant imagination more apparent than in this captivating collection of line drawings. Rhymes from Mother Goose and other classic sources provide the inspiration for Calder's eighty-five distinctive illustrations.
Originally published in 1944, this compilation of the artist's frank depictions of nudes adds a decidedly adult cast, as well as a new depth and resonance, to a host of familiar chants and verses. James Johnson Sweeney, who selected the verses, contributes an insightful Introduction. His scholarly study of the significance of the nursery rhyme tradition corresponds in wit and subtlety to the expressive brilliance of Calder's drawings.