The words one first meets in nursery rhymes will always have a special magic, writes Iona Opie in her foreword to this book. Hey Diddle, Diddle , Humpty Dumpty , Jumping Joan , Wee Willie Winkie , passed on from generation to generation, these rhymes learnt in infancy remain with us forever. Divided into four enticing sections, My Very First Mother Goose contains more than sixty of the most colourful and best-loved nursery rhymes. But what makes it so special are the wonderful watercolour pictures by Rosemary Wells, who has created an engaging and exuberant world filled with distinctive characters - rabbits and cats and mice - guaranteed to delight the youngest child. This is indeed a very first book, a book to be encountered at the earliest possible moment and savoured for an entire lifetime.