Collecting well-known nursery rhymes along with some that may be less familiar (yet faintly recognized), this intriguing annotated treasury takes us back to our earliest years and those rhymes and stories that we seem always to have known. Karen Dolby—author of History's Naughty Bits as well as children's books like Dragon in the Cupboard and House of Shadows—examines the history of rhymes like "Old King Cole," "Little Bo-Peep," and "Hickory, Dickory, Dock" to see how they have evolved through the centuries, and discusses any controversies surrounding their origins.