Hazel Rochman (Booklist, October 1, 1999 (Vol. 96, No. 3))
With the same combination of warmth and wickedness that made My Very First Mother Goose (1996) such fun for young preschoolers, folklorist Opie and illustrator Wells have collected another 55 nursery rhymes in a splendid, large-size companion volume. As Opie says in her brief, beautiful introduction, Mother Goose collected nonsense, clever riddles, and "the songs that run in people's heads and make them skip instead of walk." There are old favorites as well as some lively traditional verses that will be new to most kids and the adults who read to them. And there are a few changes for the millennium: Opie reverses the rhyme about what little girls and little boys are made of, and Wells shows them all having fun. Take a new look at Mary, Mary, who really is quite contrary in Wells' mischievous view. The pictures include a few people, but most of the characters are animals: ducklings, rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, and the soft, sleepy "donkey, donkey, old and gray." There is yearning and mystery: a young girl ignores her mother's warning, jumps on a horse, and is lured away to the dark woods. In contrast, there's the furry guinea pig with a plate of hot-cross buns in front of the fireplace, snug at home. Best of all, though, is the double-page spread with a curt verse and a large picture of one mean, messy rabbit: "I'm Dusty Bill / From Vinegar Hill / Never had a bath / And I never will." Category: For the Young. 1999, Candlewick, $21.99. Ages 1-4. Starred Review.