ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Iona and Peter Opie

Iona and Peter Opie were a husband and wife team of researchers and authors who studied and wrote books about children's folklore and stories for over 50 years.

Imagine you and your friends sitting around telling each other stories about your favorite characters, like a princess who gets captured by a dragon and needs to be saved by a brave knight. These stories are the types of things the Opies studied.

They collected lots of these stories from kids all over England, Scotland, and Wales. They wanted to understand how children's stories were different in different parts of the country, and how they changed over time.

The Opies wrote many books that shared the stories they collected, and they also wrote about games, rhymes, and songs that kids play and sing. They believed that children's folklore is important because it helps us understand how kids have fun and cope with problems in their lives.

So, in summary, Iona and Peter Opie were researchers who studied and wrote books about the stories, games, rhymes, and songs that kids play and tell each other. They did this for a very long time, and are known for their contributions to understanding children's folklore.