A favorite nursery rhyme, "Hey diddle diddle!" has taken on 13 new verses beginning with lines like "Hey trifle trifle!" and "Hey mango mango!"
The last one says:"Hey nuzzle nuzzle!
These rhymes were a puzzle,
A game I simply adore;
And if you laughed
To hear such a sport,
Why don't you run, make up some more?"
This is the encouragement a primary grade teacher might make. Aylesworth was a first-grade teacher for nearly 20 years. He knows children will giggle and romp to the beat of "Hey sunny sunny! The bear spilled the honey" and "Hey bower bower! The horse picked a flower . . . "
"The Cat and the Fiddle and More" is reminiscent of Dr. Seuss and others whose nonsense rhymes held no mystery to those who could suspend disbelief. Young readers, having chanted the adventures of the cow jumping over the moon, will find equal humor in a fox hopping on one paw, a turtle leaping and a rooster singing silly songs.
The nonsensical rhymes are illustrated by Utah artist Richard Hull. The interpretation of the 14 verses is a frenzy of make believe; characters that gyrate through space, line up in random order or hang suspended ready to plunge into the story. The two-page spreads are lavish with backdrops of trees, flowers and vines with minor stories; animals tucked in cages, nests and subterranean niches. There is much detail here for youngsters to enjoy over and over again.
The four-color drawings, which Hull admits were "slow and tedious," were completed in color pencil on underpaintings of pastels and oil washes. The multilayer techniques give a mottled effect to the art, which is then shaded, adding depth and dimension.
The final result is a pandemonium of color and movement that thoroughly supports the text.
Hull has been a graphic designer for the Ensign magazine for 15 years. Even while working as a graphic designer he acknowledges that he remained busy as an illustrator. Clients include the LDS Church magazines, Sesame Street magazine, Ranger Rick, Penny Whistle Press, Macmillan/
McGraw textbooks, WordPerfect and Deseret Book. He is assistant professor of design at Brigham Young University. "The Cat and the Fiddle and More" is Hull's first picture book.