Nash, Scott. Shrunken Treasures: Literary Classics, Short and Sweet. illus. by Scott Nash. 40p. Candlewick. Apr. 2016. Tr $15.99. ISBN 9780763669720.  

Gr 3 Up –Young readers are introduced to nine classic stories the author claims to have put in a “versizer” and shrunk to lively verse and humorous illustrations. “No sissy was Ulysses:/He journeyed ‘cross the sea/ And risked his life/To find his wife/The sweet Penelope” is the first of seven reduced verses retelling the ancient Greek epic the Odyssey. Interspersed are amusing depictions of Cyclops, the mermaids, and sailing scenes from Ulysses’s journey. Not all stories use the same style of verse, as Jane Eyre can be sung to the tune of “Three Blind Mice,” and Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (a voluminous work) has become a simple haiku. Other works include Moby-Dick, Frankenstein, Hamlet, A Thousand and One Nights, Don Quixote, and The Metamorphosis. Nash, well known for his “Flat Stanley” illustrations, employs a similar cartoon style here, including a drawing of himself next to his googly-eyed characters stacked in the “versizer” machine. Adults familiar with the original classics will be entertained by puns, such as Hamlet drawn as a great Dane (dog) who, in pawing up the garden, digs up the King’s ghost. An appended section gives a bit of backstory and context for the original works and authors and tells how Nash chose to retell each tale, based on his memories. VERDICT A lighthearted and clever rendering of some classics young readers may be inclined to read later on.–Vicki Reutter, State University of New York at Cortland