This profile of more than 170 early 20th century sayings was the first of more than a dozen books produced by Peter and Iona Opie, world experts on childhood play. Initially published in Great Britain in 1947 as I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth, the small volume documents verbal equipment with which British children of recent centuries persevered in playgrounds and neighborhoods. Opie explains that the sayings are "directly concerned with the exigencies of school life: the need for a stinging reply when verbally attacked;...for comic complaints in the face of persecution or the grinding drudgery of schoolwork; ...to know some clever rhymes by heart, with which to win popularity. They pass from one child to another without adult interference." Applauding Sendak's illustrations for the thick 7 2 x 5 2" new edition, Opie says his art makes the collection " ...more than ever a declaration of a child's brave defiance in the face of daunting odds." Rendered in full color and half-tones, Sendak's wee vignettes, sequences and whole page images capture the irreverence, audacity and impropriety of the numbered entries and footnotes. Children will love the book if "adult interference" doesn't prevent them from seeing it; adults with an appetite for the grittiness of childhood will also enjoy this serious look at an incomparable work interpreting the tasteless, ribald humor typically savored by the young. (Age 5 and older)

Collected in this award-winning book are the wit and wisdom of generations of schoolchildren, more than 170 selections ranging from insults and riddles to jeers and jump-rope rhymes. With Iona Opie's introduction and detailed notes and Maurice Sendak's poignant and wickedly funny illustrations, this classic anthology belongs in every child's and young-at-heart adult's collection. Full-color illustrations. An ALA Notable Children's Book.