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Beloved Mother Goose folklorist Iona Opie reunites with award-winning illustrator Rosemary Wells for this rare selection of little-known nursery rhymes made new again. Full color.

"Opie and Wells depart from their previous two collections of well-known Mother Goose rhymes to venture to what Opie describes as 'the far edge of Mother Goose's realm' and there collect 'the most mysterious fragments from our shared memory.' As if to signal the difference, the trim size has changed (it is smaller, at 9 9) and the paper is matte, not glossy. Despite the large fonts and the continued presence of Wells's signature bunny characters, however, this is less a title for Everytoddler than one for lovers of rhyme and verse. Wells gives the art a more sophisticated look, trading the bright colors and bustling borders of the previous books for a more subdued palette and adding many more human characters. She riffs on designs of classic Mother Goose editions, playing with fonts and narrow frames, and she outdoes herself in ingenious interpretations. One verse beseeches a 'chick chick chick chick chicken' to 'lay a little egg for me'; Wells depicts a rustically dressed bunny and a chicken in the same room, each on its own telephone, a speech balloon issuing from the bunny's receiver shows a brightly painted egg. An especially fine series of pictures features a human mother, daughter and doll, all identically dressed; sometimes only one of the trio appears, introducing jokes about scale, but the funniest include all three, as in the art for a contradictory poem about a mother who tells her 'darling daughter' that yes, she can go swimming as long as she doesn't go near the water (the look on the daughter's face as she wades into a pond is pure imp; the doll, towed in a toy boat, mirrors the girl's expression except for its eyes, which roll angelically heavenward). Sadly, the art suffers in the production — low contrasts leave the watercolors looking washed out. Ages 3-up. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The world's most respected Mother Goose folklorist reunites with one of the great illustrators of our time to present a rare selection of rhymes to share and treasure.

From the far reaches of shared memory come these charming but little-known nursery rhymes, mysterious tidbits of lore brought back to shining life by the shared talents of the two most beloved Mother Goose treasurers, Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells. MOTHER GOOSE'S LITTLE TREASURES is a gem in itself, allowing the littlest listeners — and the most discerning collectors — to discover a selection of marvelous rare nursery rhymes made new again.

From the Introduction:

These rhymes are a confirmation that though we must live in the real world, we need to know the way to another world, where there are no limits and nothing is certain. . . .

Just turn the pages, and look and listen, and say, as I do, Oh yes, oh yes, of course

-- Iona Opie