A was once an apple pie Pidy Widy Nice insidy Apple pie. Edward Lear's acrobatic rhymes insistently tumble from the tongue & celebrate the glorious fun of wordplay. Only Vladimir Radunsky's electric artwork could possibly capture this much energy. Within the quiet covers of this book, the artist springs loose the grandest kings, the highest of kites, a goose-stepping gander, &, even, Lear himself. The pages almost turn themselves.
Renowned author Daniel Pinkwater and best-selling poet and artist Calef Brown team up to champion the ridiculous! These endlessly fascinating and imaginative poems are as fresh and delightful today as they were when Edward Lear wrote them more than a hundred years ago—from "The Owl and the Pussycat" to "The Pobble Who Has No Toes." This charming book proves that, sometimes, there's nothing children need more than a healthy dose of nonsense!
Edward Lear began his career as an ornithological illustrator, becoming one of the first major artists to draw birds from living models. During this period he was employed to paint the birds from the private menagerie owned by Edward Stanley, the 13th Earl of Derby and one of Lear’s closest friends. In 1837, Lear’s health started to decline. His deteriorating eyesight and failing lungs forced him to abandon the detailed painting required for depicting birds, and, with the help of the earl, he moved to Rome where he established himself as a poet of literary nonsense. While Lear was visiting the Earl of Derby, he wrote poems and drew silly sketches to entertain the earl’s children. In 1846, he collected together his pile of limericks and illustrations and published his first poetical book, titled A Book of Nonsense and dedicated to the Earl of Derby and his children. He decided to publish under the pseudonym Derry down Derry, but after he started making plans for more books, he republished under his real name. His next book, Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets wasn’t published until 24 years later, in 1870. Lear then released More Nonsense, which contains more limericks, in 1872, and Laughable Lyrics in 1877. This final book in the series contains many of Lear’s most famous fantastical creatures, such as the Quangle Wangle. The influence of Lear’s poetry in the twentieth-century can be seen in styles like the surrealism movement and the theater of the absurd.
Edward Lear loved birds. Of all the animals that sprang from his quirky imagination, birds held a special place, serving as the animal of choice for his zoomorphosis in self-portraiture. Not only did he draw more birds than any other animal, but he endowed them with particularly human characteristics. This book brings together a collection of Lear's nonsense birds, such as 'The Obsequious Ornamental Ostrich, who wore Boots to keep his feet quite dry', as well as the twenty birds he hand-coloured such as 'The Runcible Bird' and 'The Stripy Bird'. Each of these is endowed with unique character while collectively they form a gloriously humorous flock. Beautifully presented, this is a perfect gift for children of all ages as well as for lovers of birds.
