"The mood is insouciant glee. A treasure." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
That's what children chant when they are being teased; it's what their parents chanted, and their grandparents and their great-grandparents before them. Collected in this invaluable book are the wit and wisdom of generations of schoolchildren -- more than one hundred and seventy rhymes ranging from insults and riddles to tongue twisters, jeers, and jump-rope rhymes. With Iona Opie's introduction and detailed notes and Maurice Sendak's remarkable pictures -- vignettes, sequences, and full-page paintings both wickedly funny and comically sad -- here is a book that deserves a place among the classic texts of childhood.
Iona and Peter Opie were married in 1943 and worked together for nearly forty years, studying and writing about children's lore and literature until Peter's death in 1982. Among their collaborations is The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Iona Opie lives in England.
Maurice Sendak has created texts and illustrations for more than seventy books, which have sold millions of copies around the world. He has won numerous awards, including a Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his body of work. He lives in New England.
Target Age: 7-10
Candlewick Press
Pub Date: November 30, 2012
0.8" H x 7.3" L x 5.2" W
160 pages
paperback