I Saw Esau Author:Iona Opie, Peter Opie "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." So goes the schoolyard chant that graces this brilliant collection with its title. This "Schoolchild's Pocket Book," edited by lore and literature legends Iona and Peter Opie--British folklorists who for four decades charted the... more » territory of childhood through schoolchildren's language--and gleefully illustrated by Maurice Sendak, definitely belongs on every child's shelf, right next to Mother Goose nursery rhymes and Grimms' fairy tales.
With the shape and heft of a handbook, the volume is, in effect, a primer of children's humor and lore. Many rhymes are instantly familiar; others are less so--especially those with a British tinge. Merely perusing the Contents page, with such tantalizing listings as "Guile-Malicious" and "Guile-Innocent," is a delectable exercise.
Because the Opies' particular genius lay in mapping the verbal turf of children themselves--and not adults' often sanitized versions--the rhymes they collected portray not only the playfulness of childhood but its occasional crudeness and cruelty as well. For the same reason, they exude spontaneity and energy.
Sendak's illustrations pick up this energy and add their own. His characters are, variously, mischievous, sprightly, gnarly and spectral, and possessed of a seemingly endless array of expressions. Appealing and immediately accessible, they are drawn in simple, clean lines that recall his early work and painted with a broad palette that ranges from rich russets to soft indigos.
The text and art are seamlessly interactive: small figures chase each other around the type; larger illustrations mingle images from several verses. And Sendak's ability to create provocative psychological dimension is in full evidence as well. The sequence illustrating the ubiquitous "Rain, rain, go away" is accompanied by a series showing a child's mother gradually transformed into a protective tree; the figure pelted in "Sticks and stones" is a skeleton itself.
The republication of these rhymes brings the Opies' work full circle; the book seems a satisfying culmination of Sendak's gifts as well.