Dr. Afia Dil has put together an extraordinarily rich collection of nursery rhymes in this book. While the focus of her study is on Bengali nursery rhymes within the larger context of nursery rhymes from around the world available in English,the materials extend beyond young child audiences. Everything is translated for an English-speaking audience. … This book updates her earlier study of Bengali nursery rhymes aimed at understanding how Bengali society shapes a child’s mind. It is based on her comprehensive collection and three decade study of oral and written nursery rhymes for children in Bengal. She reviews an extensive literature on nursery rhymes in English and the kinds of defining approaches and analysis that have been used on them and classifies them according to topics. She analyzes her data with a rich analytic apparatus allowing comparison between corpora of such rhymes in many languages. Dr. Afia Dil’s book brings together such a rich and wide range of nursery rhymes,both from Bangladesh and other sources,that scholars will be able to use them for analysis for a long time,parents will find materials they can recite to children,and lovers of poetry will find much that is new and delightful to them. This is a treasure-trove for those who love poetry for the young. – Dr. Susan Ervin-Tripp,Professor Emeritus,University of California,Berkeley It was a matter of great pride for me to find during my research that Bengali nursery rhymes,both traditional and modern,rank very high as part of the world treasury of nursery rhymes. Bengali rhymes,both in quantity and quality,compare very favorably with rhymes surveyed in other languages around the globe. … I would like to make a proposal that,in continuation of the international leadership role in the field by Bangladesh,the 2017 International Mother Language Day (65th anniversary of Ekushe) be celebrated as the International Nursery Rhymes Year. The theme deserves to be highlighted internationally because a great part of the oral treasury of knowledge and w
