These nursery jingles are part of children's heritage from the past. They have probably been as genuinely loved as the shorter and more familiar Mother Goose rhymes, but because they have not had the multiple publications of Mother Goose, are not as well known, and many of them were in danger of being forgotten.

Twenty-four of the these delightful nursery poems and songs are collected here, after years of research, some of them from the lips of singers who had them from a mother or grandmother but never saw them in print; others findable only in out-of-print books. They have given delight to children as sung or told by mothers in American homes for several generations. Simple airs are given for the jingles that have tunes.

Robert Lawson was chosen as the artist who would catch most completely the jollity and flavor and vigor of these old rhymes. His drawings in two colors are delightful and make a merry book for children that will be equally enjoyed by grown-ups for whom these songs wake happy memories.

From the dust jacket