Iona Opie Knihy

A magnificent survey of over 40 games played by children, largely out of sight of adults, in the 1960s, in the street, playground and wasteland.

Looks at the superstitions, practices and beliefs, rhymes and chants, jokes, nicknames and juvenile slang that continue to flourish among children in England, Scotland and Wales. Iona and Peter Opie also wrote "The Singing Game", "A Nursery Companion" and "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book".

A collection of more than sixty nursery rhymes including "Hey Diddle, Diddle," "Pat-a-Cake," "Little Jack Horner," and "Pussycat, Pussycat."

First published in 1959, Iona and Peter Opie's The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren is a pathbreaking work of scholarship that is also a splendid and enduring work of literature. Going outside the nursery, with its assortment of parent-approved entertainments, to observe and investigate the day-to-day creative intelligence and activities of children, the Opies bring to life the rites and rhymes, jokes and jeers, laws, games, and secret spells of what has been called "the greatest of savage tribes, and the only one which shows no signs of dying out."

In this book, 24 well-known fairy tales are given in their original form, either as they were first printed in English, or in their earliest surviving text. Each tale has a historical introduction, showing the development of the story and noting particular points of interest.

A collection of rhymes that have been chanted by children for generations including rhymes of insult and retaliation, of teasing and repartee, rhymes for skipping and for counting out, riddles, tongue-twisters, narratives and nonsense.