Remember the first nursery rhyme or Mother Goose song you learned? Was it about Little Miss Muffet and that spider beside her? And Ring-a-Ring of Roses (also known as Ring Around the Rosies) has such ...

Children look adorable when they recite nursery rhymes. While the pronunciation may not be clear or apt, the expressions of innocent kids can make up for the incorrect pronunciation most of the times.

THE OXFORD NURSERY RHYME BOOK (224 pp.)—assembled by Iona and Peter Opie—Oxford ($4.50). When asked how her garden grew, Mary did not always give the same answer. At least once she replied: “With ...