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I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild's Pocket Book
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." That's what children chant when they are being teased; it's what their parents chanted, and probably their grandparents before them. Collected in this invaluable book are the wit and wisdom of generations of schoolchildren—more than 170 selections ranging from insults and riddles to jeers and jump-rope rhymes. With Iona Opie's introduction and detailed notes and Maurice Sendak's remarkable pictures—vignettes, sequences, and full-page paintings both wickedly funny and comically sad—it offers knowledge and entertainment to all who open it.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1947
About the author
Iona Opie
44 books33 followersIona Margaret Balfour Archibald was born in Colchester, Essex, England. She was a researcher and writer on folklore and children's street culture. She is considered an authority on children's rhymes, street and playground games and the Mother Goose tradition. She was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1998 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1999.
The couple met during World War II and married on 2 September 1943. The couple worked together closely, from their home near Farnham, Surrey, conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews of thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. Working from their home in Alton, Hampshire they collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works. The couple were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal in 1960. The medal is awarded by The Folklore Society "for outstanding research and scholarship".
Speaking in 2010, Iona speaks of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the Atlantic." and that "[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night."
Iona Opie died in 2017.
The couple met during World War II and married on 2 September 1943. The couple worked together closely, from their home near Farnham, Surrey, conducting primary fieldwork, library research, and interviews of thousands of children. In pursuing the folklore of contemporary childhood they directly recorded rhymes and games in real time as they were being sung, chanted, or played. Working from their home in Alton, Hampshire they collaborated on several celebrated books and produced over 30 works. The couple were jointly awarded the Coote Lake Medal in 1960. The medal is awarded by The Folklore Society "for outstanding research and scholarship".
Speaking in 2010, Iona speaks of working with her husband as being "like two of us in a very small boat and each had an oar and we were trying to row across the Atlantic." and that "[W]e would never discuss ideas verbally except very late at night."
Iona Opie died in 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
October 17, 2011
As a child I appreciated the scandalous nature of the rhymes and illustrations; as a grown-up I love reading about the sources, many of which are detailed by the editor. All in all, though inappropriate for younger children (I got in trouble one year at Thanksgiving for saying grace from it), I credit it as a huge influence on my sense of humor and appreciation for history, and it's still one of my most favorite books of all time. There's something smart about it, in spite of its raunchiness.
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October 8, 2021‘I saw Esau sittin’ on a seesaw,
Esau he saw I…’
I was brought up with this version of the tongue-twister, which doubtless continued though I have no memory now of how it ended; I was much more enamoured of the doggerel which went “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” The version recorded by Peter and Iona Opie was very different (“I saw Esau kissing Kate, | The fact is we all three saw; | For I saw him, | And he saw me, | And she saw I saw Esau.”) though the helpful endnotes admit that the first half of the shortened version I knew is often all that’s recited.
But this process of looking for familiar rhymes and ditties is one of the first things the new reader is likely to do; the second is to admire and rejoice in the visuals added to virtually every page. Originally published during the years of postwar rationing, I Saw Esau was reissued in 1992 with coloured illustrations by the redoubtable Maurice Sendak, making this probably the most heartwarming pocket book of “traditional rhymes of youth” (as the original subtitle informs us) I’ve had the fortune to see and now own.
The 170 rhymes contained here are sequestered into short sections, and the best I can do to give you a flavour is to open pages at random and quote what I see. From a section headed 'Lamentations' comes this: “Latin is a dead tongue, | Dead as dead can be. | First it killed the Romans — | Now it’s killing me.” From 'Narratives' I pluck this drama:
The rain it raineth all around
Upon the just and unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just because
The unjust stole the just’s umbrella.
And under 'Characters' I spot this: “Patience is a virtue, | Virtue is a grace; | And Grace is a little girl | Who doesn’t wash her face.”
In the 1992 Introduction Iona Opie tells us that this was the first book she and her late husband Peter (he’d died in 1982) had produced together from traditional lore they’d collected — aptly enough at the time their son James was two years old — and she gave due credit to Sendak’s decorations for giving the Walker Books edition “new strength and an extra dimension”. As she adds, “The best antidote to the anxieties and disasters of life is laughter;” and there’s that aplenty in this generously provisioned volume.¹
Let me end with a spell, or rather a curse, designed to protect a favourite book (such as this one):
Who folds a leaf down,
The devil toast brown;
Who makes mark or blot,
The devil toast hot;
Who steals this book
The devil shall cook.
You have been warned.
November 25, 2024
I wanted to read this book after I found out about its existence, and that Maurice Sendak had done the illustrations.
It is a book of "childhood" rhymes. I say childhood in quotes because I believe adults will understand it more than children, and frankly there are historical references that I didn't know until I read the notes at the back. But this is a perfect illustration of why book banning is wrong. These are all rhymes out of time. Many I grew up with. Still more I believe have been lost to time.
An example of both:
"It's raining it's pouring
the old man is snoring.
He got into bed and
bumped his head and
couldn't get up in the morning"
And
"the rain it raineth all around,
upon the just and unjust fella,
But chiefly on the just because
the unjust stole the just's umbrella"
Some are quite baudy, or just a little gross, too. But all delightfully illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators, Maurice Sendak.
It is a book of "childhood" rhymes. I say childhood in quotes because I believe adults will understand it more than children, and frankly there are historical references that I didn't know until I read the notes at the back. But this is a perfect illustration of why book banning is wrong. These are all rhymes out of time. Many I grew up with. Still more I believe have been lost to time.
An example of both:
"It's raining it's pouring
the old man is snoring.
He got into bed and
bumped his head and
couldn't get up in the morning"
And
"the rain it raineth all around,
upon the just and unjust fella,
But chiefly on the just because
the unjust stole the just's umbrella"
Some are quite baudy, or just a little gross, too. But all delightfully illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators, Maurice Sendak.
February 21, 2020
I believe this is a new version of a book that was first published in 1947. Older readers might remember a lot of these playground rhymes used for games or incantations or insults or self defense. I only recalled a few and usually just the first two lines. The historical footnotes at the end explaining where some of them originated was interesting. Sendak’s art adds a nice visual touch to the overall read.
July 19, 2025
Odd. Could have been more enjoyable if presented in a different format. It's really a book for those interested in history but its visual presentation is for kids, with scholarly footnotes in the end. Awkward.
March 15, 2015
Bedtime reading to the Littlies was a good excuse to read this over a few nights (and catchup on the footnotes once they were settled(!)
The text of book is quite old and this edition is really for celebrating Sendak's illustrations... and this is the reason I bought it.
The rhymes and sayings are a good, well structured collection, being a little bit of everything from the lore of children and folk rhymes. There's a heap of nostalgia for those you recognise from your own childhood as they are all slowly being lost either through redundancy or by evolving to meet the times. In many ways you wish the footnotes were more informative but, this is not the job of this edition and Opie's more extensive notes can be found elsewhere. Besides, as said before this is really for Sendak's illustrations; a delight, a treasure. Fascinating for their humour, frippery and darkness. Sendak's pen is superbly accomplished. Every stroke brims with character, they're polished and studied with a simplicity the belies the skill taken in mushing together funny little bodies to amuse and terrify. I could go on forever about how much I like these; from the single babies in distress to the framed drawings carefully constructed for the layout of the book. Brilliant lessons for all illustrators and artists.
The text of book is quite old and this edition is really for celebrating Sendak's illustrations... and this is the reason I bought it.
The rhymes and sayings are a good, well structured collection, being a little bit of everything from the lore of children and folk rhymes. There's a heap of nostalgia for those you recognise from your own childhood as they are all slowly being lost either through redundancy or by evolving to meet the times. In many ways you wish the footnotes were more informative but, this is not the job of this edition and Opie's more extensive notes can be found elsewhere. Besides, as said before this is really for Sendak's illustrations; a delight, a treasure. Fascinating for their humour, frippery and darkness. Sendak's pen is superbly accomplished. Every stroke brims with character, they're polished and studied with a simplicity the belies the skill taken in mushing together funny little bodies to amuse and terrify. I could go on forever about how much I like these; from the single babies in distress to the framed drawings carefully constructed for the layout of the book. Brilliant lessons for all illustrators and artists.
October 13, 2020
The only reason I picked up this book was because Mom had been trying to recall the jump rope chants from her childhood. This isn't the type of book I generally choose. But, it has a 4-page intro, notes at the end, and the sayings are organized by purpose or style. So I enjoyed it.
The first example under 'Insults' reads:
[Tommy Johnson] is no good,
Chop him up for firewood;
When he's dead, boil his head,
Make it into gingerbread.
Substitute in the name of the person who has earned the scorn of his fellow. Gruesome, but it would appeal to many, I'm sure.
Here's one with historical significance:
Thomas a Didymus, hard of belief,
Sold his wife for a pound of beef; ...
The note at the end reads,
Wife selling was a recognized custom as late as the beginning of the 19th century. If a man's wife were willing, he could take her to to market with a halter around her neck and sell her to the highest bidder. It was, in fact, a poor man's form of divorce, ...
Dad started recalling similar chants that he remembered from childhood -- ones I hadn't heard him say before. I wrote them down as examples of kids' chants from the 1930s in Denver.
The first example under 'Insults' reads:
[Tommy Johnson] is no good,
Chop him up for firewood;
When he's dead, boil his head,
Make it into gingerbread.
Substitute in the name of the person who has earned the scorn of his fellow. Gruesome, but it would appeal to many, I'm sure.
Here's one with historical significance:
Thomas a Didymus, hard of belief,
Sold his wife for a pound of beef; ...
The note at the end reads,
Wife selling was a recognized custom as late as the beginning of the 19th century. If a man's wife were willing, he could take her to to market with a halter around her neck and sell her to the highest bidder. It was, in fact, a poor man's form of divorce, ...
Dad started recalling similar chants that he remembered from childhood -- ones I hadn't heard him say before. I wrote them down as examples of kids' chants from the 1930s in Denver.
October 22, 2019
A strange and funny book of school-yard rhymes, insults, poems, and sayings from the 1940s and earlier. It was fun seeing ones I recognized from childhood - “sticks and stones may break my bones”, “Moses supposes his toeses are roses”, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” are the ones that particularly stand out to me. Unfortunately, the most interesting part of this to me are the historical notes at the back, and it’s such a hastle to flip back and forth to see what verses each note is referring to. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book much more had the notes been integrated into the book instead.
Also, though I love “Where the Wild Things Are,” Maurice Sendak’s illustrations here are weird at best and border on disturbing at times. There was one that might show up in my nightmares - a progression of a baby breastfeeding and then slowing devouring his mother boob first, then head, and body. The final drawing is the baby dancing on a stool, all big and fat. Supposedly it goes along with the counting rhyme “I one my mother, I two my mother...” and so on until you get to “I eight my mother”, but seriously? So strange. And just not for me.
Also, though I love “Where the Wild Things Are,” Maurice Sendak’s illustrations here are weird at best and border on disturbing at times. There was one that might show up in my nightmares - a progression of a baby breastfeeding and then slowing devouring his mother boob first, then head, and body. The final drawing is the baby dancing on a stool, all big and fat. Supposedly it goes along with the counting rhyme “I one my mother, I two my mother...” and so on until you get to “I eight my mother”, but seriously? So strange. And just not for me.
April 28, 2013
These are rhymes for children, but they are not the sanitized versions you might find in a recently published book. The illustrations by Maurice Sendak complement the rhymes well. The end notes are as interesting as the poems!
January 29, 2022
A re-read - or maybe my first attempt to read this cover to cover? The Opie/Sendak collaboration has been a book to dip into for adults and children alike since we got it, and a bedtime favourite for one of our children in particular right into adulthood. Drawn from the extensive scholarly work of Iona and Peter Opie, this is an excellent introduction to “nursery rhymes,” and a winner as a collection of the well known and the quirky.
Sprinkled with Sendak’s giggling, annoying, greedy, playful children, this anthology is a delight on its own made far more wonderful by the artwork. Even the notes at the back (background information and answers to riddles, &c.) has dancing children, anarchic cats, and a truck of peas and ducks) to tie the body of the text and the notes together.
Sprinkled with Sendak’s giggling, annoying, greedy, playful children, this anthology is a delight on its own made far more wonderful by the artwork. Even the notes at the back (background information and answers to riddles, &c.) has dancing children, anarchic cats, and a truck of peas and ducks) to tie the body of the text and the notes together.
December 24, 2022
Sendak's illustrations really make this book. They don't use his elaborate style, instead having the simple cartooniness of stuff like the Nutshell Library. Some are little comic strips rather than simple illustrations. One delightfully unnerving (and typically Sendakian) one features a suckling infant who ends up entirely consuming his mother; another (also typically Sendakian) is a dreamlike strip of a woman who turns into a tree to shield a child from the rain. Many of the rhymes are familiar, many more unfamiliar (to me, anyway), and Iona Opie provides occasionally useful notes about some of them. As a mere collection of rhymes chanted by kids across centuries, this would have a degree of interest on its own, but for me, anyway, the draw was Sendak, and I was not disappointed.
December 16, 2025
A strange little book listing 174 riddles and childhood chants. Some were familiar; others not. As an adult, I wonder what the background history was for each of them. Imagination helps in this regard but ohers I have no idea. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the final chapter entitled "Notes", where the authors actually provide some of the background for several riddles and chants included in the book. I was amazed at how many are rather nasty chants, having forgotten how nasty kids can be toward other kids, as well as toward adults.
For me, the book was enough at 160 pages. My interest was beginning to wane after reading so many riddles. So a good length.
For me, the book was enough at 160 pages. My interest was beginning to wane after reading so many riddles. So a good length.
October 4, 2019
Genre: Poetry - collection of poems
Awards: N/A
Audience: 2nd - 6th grade
A. This is a mix of narrative and lyric poems.
B. One of the examples of rhythm is in poem 105, "To a semicircle add a circle, The same again repeat, Add to these a triangle And then you'll have a treat." This has a fun beat for students to easily remember and say it. Also, it makes the short poem more enjoyable.
C. CREATE: "write a short poem with a rhythm or beat." The students will create poems such as the one in part B with a rhythm.
Awards: N/A
Audience: 2nd - 6th grade
A. This is a mix of narrative and lyric poems.
B. One of the examples of rhythm is in poem 105, "To a semicircle add a circle, The same again repeat, Add to these a triangle And then you'll have a treat." This has a fun beat for students to easily remember and say it. Also, it makes the short poem more enjoyable.
C. CREATE: "write a short poem with a rhythm or beat." The students will create poems such as the one in part B with a rhythm.
July 30, 2021
I was drawn to this book by the illustrations by Maurice Sendak whose style I quite enjoy. The concept of this book was intriguing. The rhymes that were passed down from one child to the next in generations past. I recognized only about 8 of them. Many of the others didn't really work for me for lack of rhythm or rhyme or both. Very few struck me as having any real wit. Originally compiled in the 1940s this fairly recent edition with Sendak's drawings, unfortunately, fell flat for me.
February 23, 2021
The illustrations are cute and playful. I liked some of these poems but some are very violent by todays standards, there are some curse words and some were confusing. I also think that these are antiquated and very few children use these now a days, but I'm not sure. I did like that there was a note section at the back adding more information about the poems.
May 19, 2022
I loved this book as a child, my mother gave it to me as a gift. It’s been over 30 years since I’ve last read it and I can still recite several of the poems by heart. I regularly tell people that “patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace, and Grace is a little girl who wouldn’t wash her face” such a great book
September 3, 2024
Love this book and so did my granddaughter - especially the 'British naughty' poems and illustrations. We started this so long ago and then during the chaos that was my summer, the book disappeared. Finally found it back and turned out that we only had two pages left to read. So, of course, we are reading it again because she loves it that much!
September 13, 2017
Historically, socially important collection. Fun for the adult to read and perhaps recall their own school days. NOT a book to read to young children --- some chants, rhymes are rather brutal and/or have "bad words" and Mr. Sendek's delightful illustrations are rather risque occasionally.
December 22, 2017
Check out the reviews on goodreads- the best and most interesting I have seen for any book. A marvel for adults but lots of fun for children. You have to work though to find the appropriate rhyme - which will always be accompanied by a wonderful Sendak illustration.
October 30, 2018
I have always loved the rhymes of childhood and wondered how they began. This little book is a sweet collection that begins to touch on that. I found it lacking a little though, for the depths I wanted. For a child, the level is perfect! Illustrations by Sendak are well matched and delightful.
June 21, 2019
A book of pocket rhymes that have used by children from waaaay back. it even has "Moses supposes his toes were roses" that was used in "Singing in the Rain". Beautiful illustrations by Maurice Sendak.
September 8, 2019
I didn't grow up with many of these rhymes so I didn't feel much of a connection to them. I also didn't understand a lot of their meanings even with the notes. The illustrations were interesting and I liked that they accompanied the rhymes well.
Overall I think this book was a miss for me.
Overall I think this book was a miss for me.
October 23, 2020
Worth getting for the illustrations alone. The Opies were a very successful husband and wife team of folklorists and they have applied their craft here to giving authentic and fun children's rhyme and poetry. Fun and nonsense from years gone by.
October 29, 2018
A wonderful edition. Be aware of some nudity if you’re gifting this book 😉
December 14, 2018
Maurice Sendak is brilliant but his illustrations did not add to the text for I saw Esau.
January 3, 2019
We all sat down and took turn reading this aloud and we giggle and laughed.
August 13, 2019
A compendium of primary source evidence for the cruelty of children, with delightful illustrations by Maurice Sendak
October 12, 2020
amusing, interesting, and somewhat dark. another example of the questionable nature of a certain type of children's story... twas sendak's illustrations that piqued my interest here...
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November 4, 2020"One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night
Two dead men got up to fight
A blind man came to see fair play
A dumb man came to shout hurray"
Two dead men got up to fight
A blind man came to see fair play
A dumb man came to shout hurray"
January 12, 2021
Amazing marriage of research and.... playground rhymes??? I've had this book most of my life and every time I revisit it I find some new perspective and insight in the thoroughly thought out index.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews