Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes

by Albert Jack

Overview

From the international bestselling author of Red Herrings and White Elephants—a curious guide to the hidden histories of classic nursery rhymes.

Who was Mary Quite Contrary, or Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? Do Jack and Jill actually represent the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? And if Ring Around the Rosie isn’t about the plague, then what is it really about?

This book is a quirky, curious, and sometimes sordid look at the truth behind popular nursery rhymes that uncovers the strange tales that inspired them—from Viking raids to political insurrection to smuggling slaves to freedom.

Read Albert Jack's posts on the Penguin Blog.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399535550
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/29/2009
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	4.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Albert Jack’s Red Herrings and White Elephants was a huge international hit and was on the bestsellers list for sixteen months. His second, Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep was another success: selling over 70,000 copies. He is also the author of That's Bollocks! (all the strangest, sickest, funniest and most unforgettable urban legends as told in Jack's inimitable style) and Albert Jack's Ten-Minute Mysteries.