Wow! Lots of suggestions to investigate. In response to some previous threads... I work in watercolor and paint in a fairly realistic style. I teach music to children ages 5-8 so perhaps that is really the ages I am looking for. My book "The Crabfish" is indeed not your average bawdy version of the song! I traced the many versions of the Crabfish in my master's thesis and used it as the basis for discussion the reasons and types of textual variation that occur in folksongs. Fascinating study. I used a version collected by Cecil Sharp and added my own ending...I find it works quite well with "young children". As for getting a copy of my book...it may be a few years before it is out on the shelves...it shall be grand when it is however! Simms Taback illustrated a book "joseph had a little overcoat" a few years ago that won the Caldecott Medal. This is based on a yiddish folksong. Folksongs can be a hard sell in the publishing world. Either publishers are tired of doing the same songs again or are leary of taking on more obscure songs that the general public does not know...(like The Crabfish :). Anyway his book and the song he used has the right elements of simplicity, the ability to be illustrated etc. I noticed some people joining the discussion may be writing from England. I am new to these discussions... and am amazed at the widespread input I can get - Thanks!