Ella Okstad

Lin Oliver

Iona Opie

A world authority on children's nursery rhymes and compiler of numerous enchanting nursery rhyme collections.,I suppose my message in life is 'Nursery rhymes are good for you,' says Iona Opie. "If you acquire a nursery rhyme-ical attitude, you're not at all put out by life's little bumps and bruises. They just seem funny and entirely normal." Having dedicated most of her life to collecting and preserving children's rhymes and games, Iona Opie is considered the world's authority in the field. In partnership with her late husband, Peter Opie, she edited many acclaimed books of children's folklore, among them I SAW ESAU: THE SCHOOLCHILD'S POCKET BOOK, a splendid selection of jeers, riddles, and jump-rope rhymes chanted by generations of children. "I grew up in a very sheltered, placid environment, and the first time someone was nasty to me I crumpled in tears," notes the anthologist. "I didn't learn to speak up for myself until I joined the Air Force. You need to be introduced to possible troubles early on from a safe haven, then it's not such a shock later." First published in 1947, I SAW ESAU was revised in 1992 and republished with appropriately wicked illustrations by Maurice Sendak. More recently, Iona Opie has garnered resounding praise for her best-selling MY VERY FIRST MOTHER GOOSE and the follow-up HERE COMES MOTHER GOOSE, both illustrated by the award-winning Rosemary Wells. The quintessential introduction to the sly wit and simple joy that are the essence of Mother Goose, these definitive collections--called "as essential for baby as is a crib" by the BOSTON GLOBE--were both named a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year and have received many other awards. At the heart of these timeless volumes is the unflagging enthusiasm of Iona Opie for her subject matter--and her own decidedly wry sense of humor. "Mother Goose will show newcomers to this world how astonishing, beautiful, capricious, dancy, eccentric, funny, goluptious, haphazard, intertwingled, joyous, kindly, loving, melodious, naughty, outrageous, pomsidillious, querimonious, romantic, silly, tremendous, unexpected, vertiginous, wonderful, x-citing, yo-heave-ho-ish, and zany it is," Iona Opie assures. "And when we come to be grandmothers, it is just as well to be reminded of these twenty-six attributes." Iona Opie lives in Hampshire, England, where every morning she starts her day by opening a nursery rhyme book and reading from it at random.

Iona and Peter Opie

Editors of the celebrated I Saw Esau, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

Robyn Opie

Jan Ormerod

"Telling a story with words and pictures is a little like watching a movie, then selecting the evocative moment, like a still taken from a film."

Helen Oxenbury

One of the world's most popular and acclaimed children's book illustrators, and twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal.,Growing up in Ipswich, England, Helen Oxenbury loved nothing more than drawing. As a teenager, she entered art school and basked in the pleasure of drawing, and nothing but drawing, all day. During vacations she helped out at the Ipswich Repertory Theatre workshop, mixing paints for set designers. It was there that she decided her future lay in theater design. While studying costume design, however, Helen Oxenbury was told by a teacher, "This is hopeless, you know. You ought to go and do illustrations--you're much more interested in the character, and we don't know who's going to play the part!" But sets and scenery, not books, remained Helen Oxenbury's preoccupation for several more years as she embarked on careers in theater, film, and TV. After marrying John Burningham, another of the world's most eminent children's book illustrators, and giving birth to their first child, at last she turned to illustrating children's books. "When I had babies," Helen Oxenbury says, "I wanted to be home with them and look for something to do there." Today, Helen Oxenbury is among the most popular and critically acclaimed illustrators of her time. She is a two-time Greenaway Medal winner, and her numerous books for children include ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and its companion, ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, both by Lewis Carroll; Smarties Book Prize-winning FARMER DUCK by Martin Waddell; SO MUCH by Trish Cooke; as well as her classic board books for babies. More recently, she collaborated with author Phyllis Root on the jubilant, no-nonsense tall tale BIG MOMMA MAKES THE WORLD. "As I read Phyllis's text, I imagined Big Momma as part Buddha, part housewife," she says. "It was intimidating to create a whole world, but very enjoyable." And what does she love most about her work? Thinking up new ideas? Seeing the finished book? Not at all. For Helen, "The best part is when I think I know what I'm doing and I've completed a few drawings. In fact, when I get about a third of the way through, and I feel I'm on my way, then I'm happy. It's like reading a good book--you don't want it to end." Helen Oxenbury and her husband make their home in London, where the illustrator works in a nearby studio. She is also an avid tennis player.