It isn't even necessary to open [The Chas Addams Mother Goose] to recognize the unique Addams brand of humor—the Mother Goose on the cover, aloft over a Neo-Gothic landscape, is the ubiquitous Little Old Lady in Tennis Shoes! Of course, there will be those who will object to such macabre interpretations as that of "Pease Porridge Hot" (in a witch's cauldron), "Dr. Fell" (a fiendish doctor turning on a Rube Goldbergish array of switches while a strapped-down patient looks on in alarm) or "Boys and Girls Come Out to Play" (in a cemetery).

The rhymes are untouched, but the illustrations are good gruesome fun for adults and young sophisticates. The publisher's "all ages" designation, however, might well exclude the traditional Mother Goose audience of kindergarten to third grade as it is doubtful that they would appreciate the visual incongruities that are the basis for this novelty approach...