The Owl and the Pussycat and Other Nonsense: Nonsense Verse - Hardcover

Grade 3-5-A lavishly illustrated collection of 17 poems by two grand masters of nonsense. Most of the selections are familiar, but who can resist a few steps through the looking glass, or another visit to the hills of the Chankly Bore? The beautiful, surreal, yet sharply defined and finely detailed illustrations sometimes hint at the darker side of the verses and the psychological undertow beneath the surface. Golden tones predominate, contrasted against blues and greens often in the form of the sea, a constant image that suggests travel to the unknown. The characters are dressed in Victorian garb; the children appear rather sallow and unhealthy. The creatures, on the other hand- whether known or imaginary-are marvelous. There are mermaids that look like china dolls, Jumblies that look like children (until one notices their animallike cleft lips), and a quite hideous Jabberwocky. The juxtaposition of the familiar and the bizarre is sometimes unsettling and thought-provoking- who are these women in exotic bird masks who dance with a besuited lion and parrot? Palin takes off on her own flight of fancy, and her recurring imagery echoes Lear's habit of being self-referential. Unfortunately, in one of the illustrations for Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter," it is the Carpenter crying with a handkerchief in his hand, when it should be the Walrus. Lear has usually been the more popular choice for illustrated collections (although none have this level of psychic resonance), and while both authors often appear in the same anthologies, it is unusual for them to be singled out and paired in this way.
Annette Curtis Klause, Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 6-9. Illustrated in full color, this poetry collection includes 18 examples of nonsense verse by two masters of the form, Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. Carroll's poems include selections from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, such as "Jabberwocky," "The Walrus and the Carpenter," and "The Mock Turtle's Song," while Lear's famous Quangle Wangle, Jumblies, Dong, and Pobble make their expected appearances, along with the owl and the pussycat and some less familiar characters. The combination of writers works very well, though the illustrations won't please everyone. Aside from the vexing question of whether these poems should be illustrated at all--the artist's vision of the Jabberwock will preempt the child's imagining his or her own Jabberwock--the superreal, occasionally surrealistic, mannered style of Palin's full-color artwork, however deftly drawn, tends to overwhelm the verse. Larger libraries may want this on hand for those who like their nonsense illustrated and their illustrations polished. Carolyn Phelan