Between the Lines: Mother Goose picture books that top the pecking order

Among her dozens of picture books, my younger daughter often makes a beeline for our tattered book of nursery rhymes and asks me to read it to her at least once a day.

While a two year-old tottering back to our cosy reading spot with a two-pound book in her arms is an adorable sight, whenever she asks, "Mama, can you read Mother Goose?", I always reply, " Mother Goose again?!" It has become such a recurring event that she now refers to this book as "Mother Goose Again".

In fact, the book's title is Mother Goose's Story Time Nursery Rhymes. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler with stories by Alison Green, it begins with a story introducing Mother Goose and her three goslings.

There are 90 nursery rhymes, interspersed with stories about the goose family. I know the music to about half of these nursery rhymes, so we usually sing rather than recite them.

There are conflicting reports of the origin of Mother Goose, the imaginary author of nursery rhymes and fairy tales, but references to her can be found as early as the 17th century.

In 1951, husband and wife team Iona and Peter Opie published The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes.

Iona Opie is an authority on children's rhymes and playground games, and author of the bestseller My Very First Mother Goose, illustrated by Rosemary Wells.