There should be a law that requires every child to sit on Grandpa's knee as he chants "Trot, trot, to Boston; trot, trot, to Lynn." Grownups who still giggle at the thought of Little Jack Horner pulling a plum out of his Christmas pie, or who make a wish on a star, murmuring "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight" know the secret. They're the ones who will be handing down those same nursery rhymes to their own children, preserving an age-old tradition. But no child should be left behind. In world folklore authority Iona Opie's collection, these invaluable and ancient nuggets of childhood verse are bursting with new life. Quirky and sly, sweet, gentle, rollicking, silly... the range of rhymes is breathtaking. Winner of over a dozen prestigious awards, including a Parents' Choice Award and an ALA Notable Children's Book award, this wonderful book is charmingly illustrated by Rosemary Wells, best known for her Max books (Max's Bath, Max's Bedtime, Max's Ride). A solid repertoire of nursery rhymes should be de rigueur for any aunt, uncle, grandparent, or parent worth his or her salt. This book is a must, as is its companion volume, Here Comes Mother Goose. (Click to see a sample spread from My Very First Mother Goose. Illustrations & copy; 1996 by Rosemary Wells. Permission from Candlewick Press.) (Baby to preschool) --Emilie Coulter
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-K?The 60 plus rhymes in this collection are mostly the old-time favorites, but include some more recent ones such as "Shoo Fly" and "Down by the Station." Wells illustrates the selections with her usual winsome, quirky, anthropomorphic mice, rabbits, cats, pigs, bears, etc., and even includes some people. The lavish ink-and-watercolors are filled with action and delightful details. Ranging in size from tiny vignettes to double-page spreads, they are arranged on the pages in a variety of ways to complement the text. The typeface is large and very clear. Such a spirit of fun and pleasure emanates from every page of this big, handsome volume that although there are many distinguished entries in the nursery-rhyme book field, this one is sure to add special joy to any collection.?Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
With the same combination of warmth and wickedness that made My Very First Mother Goose (1996) such fun for young preschoolers, folklorist Opie and illustrator Wells have collected another 55 nursery rhymes in a splendid, large-size companion volume. As Opie says in her brief, beautiful introduction, Mother Goose collected nonsense, clever riddles, and "the songs that run in people's heads and make them skip instead of walk." There are old favorites as well as some lively traditional verses that will be new to most kids and the adults who read to them. And there are a few changes for the millennium: Opie reverses the rhyme about what little girls and little boys are made of, and Wells shows them all having fun. Take a new look at Mary, Mary, who really is quite contrary in Wells' mischievous view. The pictures include a few people, but most of the characters are animals: ducklings, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, and the soft, sleepy "donkey, donkey, old and gray." There is yearning and mystery: a young girl ignores her mother's warning, jumps on a horse, and is lured away to the dark woods. In contrast, there's the furry guinea pig with a plate of hot-cross buns in front of the fireplace, snug at home. Best of all, though, is the double-page spread with a curt verse and a large picture of one mean, messy rabbit: "I'm Dusty Bill / From Vinegar Hill / Never had a bath / And I never will." Hazel Rochman
From Kirkus Reviews
My Very First Mother Goose ($19.99; Sept. 1996; 108 pp.; 1-56402- 620-5): One glimpse of the merry Wells (The Language of Doves, p. 1159, etc.) characters that caper through these pages--a cast of hundreds--one flip through the pages where Opie (I Saw Esau, 1992, etc.) has arranged almost 70 familiar and not-so-familiar rhymes to an effect of unabashed glee, and readers will be in love again with the original Mother Goose. There's little point in pretending that even prodigious collections of nursery rhymes can do without this one--it's a must. (index) (Poetry. 2-8) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
A lovely 20th-anniversary edition of the acclaimed 1996 collaboration between illustrator Rosemary Wells and editor Iona Opie. Here some 60 classic nursery rhymes are set amid ink-and-watercolor pictures as quirky as they are cozy.
—The Wall Street Journal
It's been 20 years since world-renowned folklorist Iona Opie and beloved illustrator Rosemary Wells (who Opie firmly believes is Mother Goose's second cousin) published the ultimate—and award-winning—nursery rhyme collection My Very First Mother Goose. With this anniversary edition (sporting a fetching new pale-yellow cover), another generation of young children will clap their hands, wiggle their toes and sing-song along to 60 "eccentric, funny, goluptious, haphazard" rhymes...Every household needs this book.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers
About the Author
Iona Opie has dedicated her life to collecting and preserving children's rhymes as an art form. "I suppose my message in life is 'Nursery rhymes are good for you.' And the sooner you start, the better. I always have one myself every morning. I just open a nursery rhyme book at random. This morning I read:
Taffy was born on a
moonshiney night.
His head in a pipskin,
his heels upright.
You see, if you acquire a nursery rhyme-ical attitude, you're not at all put out by life's little bumps and bruises—they just seem funny and entirely normal."
Rosemary Wells says, "We live in a time when our language is shrinking. Mother Goose, which represents our language at its most innocent, playful, and profound, is in danger of disappearing completely. Rhymes that have been repeated and refined for forty generations are no longer being taught to children. It is a great honor to work with Iona Opie with the hope of preserving these rhymes for many generations more." Rosemary wells lives in New York.
