The Real Mother Goose by Blanche Fisher Wright

Blanche Fisher Wright's illustrated collection gathers the rhymes most people think of first when someone says "nursery rhyme," Pat-a-Cake, Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo-Peep, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The House That Jack Built, into one 92-page volume that's been charming families for more than a hundred years. The illustrations sit large and clear against plain white backgrounds, which matters more than it sounds like at this age: an infant's attention needs something uncluttered to land on, and the pictures here give it exactly that: large, clear images set against white backgrounds.

The rhymes themselves do the real work, though. The short, bouncy, repetitive lines are built for an ear that's still learning how language fits together, and reading them aloud again and again is exactly the kind of repetition that helps a baby start to predict sounds and patterns. It's meant for ages 0 to 2, squarely a book for a parent to read to a child rather than one the child reads alone. It earns a spot in a bedtime rotation less because it offers anything new and more because these are the rhymes most families already half-know by heart.