Transitions from communism in Russia and Eastern Europe Book

Adapted from Charles E. Carryl's classic nonsense rhyme, this tale follows a group of children as they set sail on a fantastic voyage on the Walloping Window-Blind. A ship with a highly unusual crew - a hopscotch-playing boatswain, a mad gunner firing cannons into the gale - the Walloping Window-Blind is eventually abandoned, as the fun-loving mariners head ashore on the Gulliby Isles. Here they live, until another ship sails across the Peppermint Sea to pick them up...

Although I hadn't heard of Carryl's poem before picking up this adaptation from picture-book author/illustrator Jim LaMarche, it has apparently been quite popular, since first appearing in 1885. It has been included in a number of children's poetry collections over the years - Burgess Johnson's 1929 A Little Book of Necessary Nonsense , Katherine Love's 1957 A Little Laughter , Louis Untermeyer's 1970 The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense (illustrated by the Provensons), etc. - and has been recorded as a song numerous times. It has also been given at least four picture-book treatments, that I know of: Paul Galdone's 1963 A Capital Ship; or, The Walloping Window-Blind , Harry Devlin's 1968 The Walloping Window Blind: An Old Nautical Tale , Ted Rand's 1992 The Walloping Window-Blind , and this 1994 version, done by LaMarche.

Leaving that interesting history of transmission aside, I found that I enjoyed The Walloping Window-Blind, appreciating both its rollicking rhyming structure and the silly but entertaining tale that it conveys. LaMarche's accompanying artwork is creative, depicting the seafaring mariners as children, and capturing all of the madcap things they do. I don't know that I liked the illustrations here quite as much as in some of the artist's other titles - it was sometimes a little too dark in tone, preventing me from appreciating the details - but it was still appealing, overall. Recommended to picture-book readers who enjoy nonsense rhyme, as well as to fellow fans of Jim LaMarche. For my part, I'll have to see if I can track down other retellings of this poem/story, to see how they compare.