Twenty years after Iona Opie and Rosemary Wells released their first collection of Mother Goose rhymes, the celebrated original is back in a gorgeous anniversary edition.

To a small child, words are magical. And the most magical of all are the beloved words of Mother Goose. Here, folklorist Iona Opie has gathered more than sixty treasured rhymes in their most perfect, honest forms, from "Hey Diddle, Diddle" and "Pat-a-Cake" to "Little Jack Horner" and "Pussycat, Pussycat" familiar verses that have been passed from parent to child for generations and are every child's birthright.

With watercolors by Rosemary Wells capturing the simple joy and sly humor of the classic nursery rhymes, this special anniversary volume features a new case cover and jacket and includes a note from the illustrator on the unparalleled influence of Mother Goose, both during childhood and far beyond it.

• A still-fresh and irresistible invitation to introduce young children to Mother Goose rhymes, an essential tool in language development. Nursery rhymes help children with phonemic awareness (sensitivity to the sounds of language), a stage at least as critical as learning the alphabet, if not more so.
• A suitably dressed-up twentieth edition of a nursery staple and one of Candlewick's first backlist essentials.

"Children entering kindergarten would have better speech habits, and first-grade children would have a greater power with and feeling for words if more were done with Mother Goose in the homes. Knowing dozens of the verses expands the imagination, increases the vocabulary, and develops an ear for the music of words. Enjoying Mother Goose predisposes children to other books." - May Hill Arbuthnot, Children and Books, 1947