Mother Goose's Little Treasures (My Very First Mother Goose)
PreS—This third collection by Opie and Wells includes 22 less-familiar rhymes. According to Opie's introduction, "…the little treasures in this book…are the most mysterious fragments of our shared memory." Some rhymes are silly ("Little old dog sits under a chair,/Twenty-five grasshoppers/snarled in his hair….") Others are surreal. For example, "Mother, May I?" poses the question, "Mother, may I go out swimming?," which is answered, "Yes, my darling daughter;/Hang your clothes on a hickory limb,/But don't go near the water." Meanwhile, the picture shows a little girl, waist-deep in a pool, pulling a little boat and holding a doll that looks just like the little girl, which does transform this playful verse into something, yes, mysterious. Many of the characters make multiple appearances, and many are Wells's characteristic rabbits and cats. The very nature of this book makes it a less-essential purchase than this team'sMy Very First Mother Goose(1996) orHere Comes Mother Goose(1999, both Candlewick), so possibly only larger collections or libraries with lots of Rosemary Wells fans will want it.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.