MEET Edward Lear, Childhood's Hero: THE BOY WHO BECAME A PARROT

I recently browsed the shelves in an artist-coop, recognizing with a smile some rescued, REALLY OLD books on one shelf. Books with musty, frayed, cloth coverings that barely contained their cracked bindings. They were both fragile and enduring. Most were books for young people, many from various series you'd recognize. Their condition reminded me of one that I  checked out of the library more than a dozen times. 

As a young reader, my libraries were nothing like ones seen today. The children's section was barely more than a wall or two of spine-out, unjacketed titles, books that circulated on and off shelves for lack of alternatives. Options in my childhood were limited and the same was true in my classroom. (Until high school, I knew no such thing as a school library.) 

ENCHANTED LION BOOKS
2025

I read voraciously among the limited library offerings, expanding my targets beyond books and magazines and newspapers at home. Among the few titles on a single shelf of children's poetry (mostly nursery rhymes, anthologies of classics, or Robert Louis Stevenson) I read the title: Edward Lear's A  BOOK OF NONSENSE. This was in the 1950s, more than  a hundred years after Lear first published this collection of limericks and slightly bizarre line drawings. 

(The original version was published under a pen name in 1846, since LEAR was already a highly respected nature artist at that time.)

One of many further reissues of Lear's public domain works incorporate original drawings and his best known poems, while others are labeled as fully comprehensive collections of his original works and further poems published after his wide success with the first release. 

Let me just say that I've never outgrown my love for LEAR and his kid-friendly capturing of the sounds and images kids adore.I featured that feeling in a post some years back, HERE, and I often compare new creations to this early standard when elements of word-play, humor, silliness, and imagery, accessing vivid and  deeply-rooted memories.

It won't surprise you that I was intrigued and excited to read a 2025 release, a comprehensive picture book biography of Edward Lear that promised insights far beyond that memorable book. THE BOY WHO BECAME A PARROT: A FOOLISH BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD LEAR WHO INVENTED NONSENSE is written by Wolverton Hill and illustrated by Laura Carlin. In this oversized and expanded length presentation, the illustrator has channeled Lear's style as well as incorporating selected original art by Lear throughout (all credited/cited in back matter). The text is approachable and reveal Lear's childhood within his time and conditions, which led to surprising opportunities to read, observe nature, and learn to draw and paint. The account of his early life includes his epilepsy (with no treatment at the time), a condition he called his Demon, reappearing throughout his life. 

His word play, scribbly-giggly line drawings, storytelling, and poetry writing that marked his entire life emerged early to entertain other children. That liveliness and lightness of spirit never faded. Many have credited him with advancing Lewis Carroll's fanciful nonsense into broader literature. While still a child he honed his artistic skills in reproducing wildlife, with talents that earned comparison to Audubon.

This thorough account reveals a complex boy who drew at the then-private London Zoo, reporting conversations he had with the blue and yellow macaw he portrayed. He developed sympathy for the caged creatures, not unlike his own experience with losing his home and fleeing his Demon. In his imagination, the macaw flew free. Lear drew himself doing the same. He soon learned that his early success among wealthy and formal society left him uncomfortable, but time spent with children was freeing and filled with silliness. These approaches later led to effective social satire within his work.

In a world that now embraces silliness (bordering on the absurd, in some cases), a world in which limericks are recognized (even in other languages), Edward Lear could rightly claim to be the rock upon which lively children's literature was founded. 

Both the author and illustrator have rendered Lear's long-gone life with loving care and lively respect for his brilliance. Back matter provides a detailed timeline of his long life and the surprising landmarks that are referenced in lyrical text throughout the telling of his tail. Lear's influence on many notable authors and artists who followed is shared, and the names are impressive. Even so, the greatest credit to this remarkable man is his impact on nameless young readers, across centuries. His legacy is wider than I realized, expanding across many horizons. Even so, his lasting impact is on young people who found him, in his own time and in all the decades that followed.

And still do. 

I hope you'll read this and learn more about his journey to that legacy.

Serving Up Memories in BOARD BOOKS: Puddles and Beards!

When I read comments or challenges in social media calling for favorite books from childhood, I am reminded of the very limited fare of my own young life. The literary richness I experienced consisted of  endlessly repeated but always entertaining bedtime rereads by Mom or Dad. They were skilled at dramatically voicing one or more of the anthologized folk tales or fairy tales from a few partially illustrated collections that constituted our family library. That limited menu of choices included a few glossy versions of Disney movies (Cinderella, Snow White) and reading the "funny pages" in the daily and Sunday newspaper. Our school classrooms provided a nonexistent "library", and the nearest branch of our public library was multiple bus rides away. 

As a result, I seized on any chance to visit the library, and thought the very limited offerings in the children's section was a treasure trove in comparison to daily life. It is also the place in which I first concluded that books were written by old (dead) men. Among those, though, there were some gems. Edward Lear's BOOK OF NONSENSE limericks as well as THE JUMBLIES were all-time favorites, and I checked those out on alternate visits, year after year. Granted, the small branch library had few offerings, but even in the abundance of a book store I would have included Lear's NONSENSE in any wish list.

Creative Editions, March,2023

That's why I jumped at the chance to see how LEAR was being introduced to youngest of readers in a new BOARD BOOK offering from CREATIVE EDITIONS. This board book, NONSENSE, BOOK 1, offers a single limerick by Edward Lear, richly and delightfully illustrated by Swiss artist Etienne Delessert. 

Featuring what is perhaps Lear's best known limerick, THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WITH A BEARD, the few lines unfold with a visual narrative that turns nonsense into a heartfelt experience. The opening reveals an amiable, long-bearded man, clutching a feather, and closely observed by a lineup of vaguely familiar book characters on a background counter. Each page turn reveals the amazing qualities of that beard length, the owls, hen, larks, and wren who recognize a cozy home when they see it, and other fauna in the countryside who little eyes are sure to spot and celebrate during this simple outing. When the man returns home, with birds "at home" in his beard, the countertop "friends" join in the fun. All in all, there will be countless requests to "read it again. Those little two-to-three-year-old encore audiences will have memorized this clever poem years before I first discovered it!

As you might have imagined, the visual art plays a significant role in making this such a winner. The physical book itself is also a delight, with a small trim size to fit young hands, with a sturdy, hardbound spine and glossy pages that invite stroking and exploration while holding up well to such intimate and tactile "reading". I imagine that Lear would have been pleased with the production quality for this intended audience. The "BOOK 1" subtitle encourages me to hope that the publishers plan a series of these LEAR books. What a fine start to building any child's personal library!

Text aimed at adult readers on the  final page turn reveals information about Lear that was new to me. He was a gifted sketch artist/nature artist until he began losing his sight at an early age. The nonsense poems allowed him to simplify his drawings but he published them under a pen name, considering them less than literary or fine art. Actually his line art in those original books from my childhood was brilliant, IS still brilliant. It was nearly two decades after original publication when he finally used his own name on them and published more, including NONSENSE SONGS and other poems, including the OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT.

Creative Editions, March, 2023

A more contemporary and familiar style board book is next in the line-up. PUDDLE SONG is written by Laura Purdie Salas  and illustrated by Monique Felix. One glance at that cover calls to mind the splish-splash nature of spring, especially in the midwest. These days, weather extremes offer rainy-day experiences across the country. Heavy rains may even be frightening to small ones. A book like this is exactly the joyful, glistening, imagination-sparking story that might restore impulsive puddle-jumping memories to childhood lives.

Salas is a brilliant wordsmith, rhymer, and image-evoker, whose lines in this short text assume the voice of the puddle. With a call out to those children,  to ALL children, to the child in all of us, puddle calls for boots, stompers, jumpers. Puddle celebrates the potential for dancing, floating, and sloshing in every creature, with a final spread that settles its 'silver skin" into ripples in a breeze. 

With no images at all, this short verse sings like the loveliest of lyrics, as the title suggests. When portrayed in subdued rainbow colors, from charming perspective shifts, and  with reflective light effectively transforming water into magic on every page, the text soars. Young readers will be begging for rain, and boots, and puddles, but will savor the vicarious experience in these pages when those are not on hand.

Several recent reviews and interviews here have emphasized that picture books have important ideas to share with audiences of many ages, including adults. When it comes to board books, adult pleasure is often a by-product of the delight of the child rather than from the materials in the book itself, due to the simplicity that board books generally invite in topic and theme. In the case of these two books, I'm convinced that even adult readers who share them will delight in the joy and grace of the art and text. Take a look and see what you think. 

Copies of both board books were provided by CREATIVE EDITIONS with no promise of a review.

2018 Produced AMAZING Picture Books

As a first round Cybils panelist for Board Books and Fiction Picture Books, I've been reading then closely examining 300+ releases from 2018. Seriously, this is what heaven must be like, except for one tiny issue: we'll eventually narrow those down to a handful of finalists! If you've read any of my prior posts you're probably aware that I avoid naming favorites in most things (colors, foods, etc.). I'm totally aversive to such labeling when it comes to books. 

One reason comes from my own childhood reading, and another is my experience from years of reading with kids of many ages in classrooms and beyond. The bottom line is that readers' favorites will change over time, and many individual's favorites may never make a finalist or award list. The specific book that touches the deepest core of a young reader may have a title not even known by a teacher, blogger, or classmate. 

For example, I remember fondly a yearlong love affair with books by Lear, Thurber, and Steig, even though it seemed that none of my friends knew about the work of those clever authors. There was also a critical period during which I found a book called CLAY FINGERS. I renewed and reread my library copy endlessly. It, too, was unknown to teachers or classmates. It was a pivotal book in shaping my eventual career, (which was NOT working in ceramics).

All of the above raise a serious question- WHY would I volunteer to serve on a committee whose purpose is to label books as finalists and winners of awards in a variety of categories. (BTW, click on that category at the top of this post to get a glimpse of the variety and depth of the fields in both categories this year.)

Back to that existential question, WHY? Here's my reply:

When lists of "bests" or finalists or award-winners are shared, they may (and should!) lead readers to new titles, even keeping books in print or on library shelves long after a publisher or librarian might otherwise do so. Participating also offers me both opportunity and incentive to read books I might have missed, then to read them again and probe deeply into the qualities that make some especially appealing to kids and outstanding as material for young readers. 

• This process improves me as a reader. 
• My expanded knowledge allows me a better base of titles from which to recommend books to readers in my efforts to provide core-catching matches. 
• And I only ever offer to serve on the finalist panel, freeing me from the excruciating task of deciding on single winners. 

Clever, right?

So, as December nears I'll be sharing more full reviews of the books that have been rising into the very small pool from which I'll have to make my short-short list in discussions with the other panelists in these categories. Until then, I'll do some speed-dating posts to share my comments from among my 2500+ Goodreads postings. I hope you'll take a look.

Here are just a few, if you're interested in my thoughts about:

MARWAN'S JOURNEY  (A refugee story)

FIRST LAUGH (Cultural tradition of Navajo - Dine - with infants.)

THE DAY WAR CAME (A refugee story with an empowering child-view of choices)

I urge you to take a look, and I'll return soon with suggestions for more picture books and board books that deserve your attention.

More Timeless Poetry Collections: John Ciardi

My previous post referenced the powerful role of Edward Lear's poetry and line drawings in my early reading life, particularly in my library habits (here). That leads naturally  to this post about another of my favorite poets, John Ciardi. 

Like Lear, Ciardi wrote for a wide range of audiences, but his poetry for  the young was written directly for his own children. Unlike Lear, who often inserted delightfully unexpected and challenging word choices, in at least one collection Ciardi set out to create poems using fewer than five hundred of the earliest sight words for beginners. He was on a mission to become his own children's favorite author, drawing on some of the same elements that made Lear's poems a hit more than a century earlier. Ciardi's poems demonstrate mastery of those elements: rhythm, rhyme,  humor, and wry irony.

YOU READ TO ME, I'LL READ TO YOU, by John Ciardi, with drawings by Edward Gorey, is one of my favorites from among his collections. Gorey's line art is as fanciful and intricate as Lear's, enhancing the comic and compelling storytelling within Ciardi's work. Here's a cheeky example, which is  a screenshot of only one side of a double page spread. You'll have to get the book to see what the Shark is doing on the facing page.

Of all the poems I've shared with kids (of any age), ones from this specific collection continued to be favorites across many decades. They feature young characters with a tongue-in-cheek, cautionary tone, balancing a fine line between being sassy and sublime. 

Other titles offering Ciardi gems are I MET A MAN, illustrated by Robert Osborn (1961), and DOODLE SOUP, illustrated by Merle Nacht (1985).

In I MET A MAN, poems range from three lines to double page spreads. They offer a simple, gentle humor, but are nonetheless charming and they invite recitation. Here's an example:



THE SLEEPY MAN

I met a man that looked about
As sleepy as he could without
Falling over and starting to snore.

If he ever wakes up, I'll tell you some more!

The poems in Doodle Soup tend toward longer, more complex, perhaps aiming for a slightly older audience. Even so, the flawless rhyming and driving rhythms appeal to all ages. An example:

SOMETIMES IT PAYS TO BACK UP
It doesn't do to push too hard
     Against an elephant or a mule
When it's pushing back. If it gains a yard
     You lose one, as a general rule.

If you lose two, it's on top of you,
     If you stand fast. And that
Could weigh on your mind until you find
    You feel like nothing in nothing flat.

Irresistible, right?  I sincerely hope that's how you'll feel about it. These collections have been so popular for so many years that some have been republished in paperback and book club editions, while older copies are readily available from secondary markets. Add them to your family and classroom collections. If you know these and use them with young readers, please chime in with your opinions! If not, get to it, folks. 

A Poetry Throw-Back-Thursday: Edward Lear

I plunged into this series of poetry posts with some personal notes. In that post I mentioned childhood memories of the limited and outdated poetry section of my public library. The meager offerings in the  children's fiction and nonfiction sections held little temptation for rereading. Not so for the poetry "section". I must have signed my name on the check-out line of some of those poetry books a half-dozen times or more. The few shelves of poems were filled with collections by long-dead or aging poets, but  the life in their words generated smiles and tickled my ears even after multiple readings.

I also enjoyed collections by Ogden Nash but, by far, my favorites were those of Edward Lear. I recently purchased a tattered copy of a compilation of Lear's nonsense poems, including his original A BOOK OF NONSENSE (1846). His humorous limericks and comical line drawings were hugely popular when first published. I found them every bit as appealing more than a century later as I sat, knees near chin, on a tiny,splintered, hard-wood chair under buzzing fluorescent lights in the corner of the library allotted to children. 

Thankfully, even by the mid-fifties, the children's versions were reprinted in bi-color with larger print and  illustrations enlarged to reveal the intricacies of what should not be seen as incidental detail. Each decade that followed enhanced and colorized Lear's collections further. Kids DO judge books by their covers, and the updates allowed them to find and explore these classics across countless generations.

Limericks were Lear's specialty. His prolific offerings were published in a variety of collections, emphasizing everything from the alphabet to botany to music. 
Perhaps his most famous limerick is "There Was An Old Man With a Beard." It has been re-illustrated and recited in countless ways, and still elicits giggles from children who hear it for the first time. 
It's hard to imagine any illustrator surpassing the appeal of his original work:

Lear's work remains popular and invites reinvention and interpretation in contemporary publishing, more than two hundred years after Lear's birth. 

1998

THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT by Edward Lear ,with pictures by James Marshall , offered a delightful approach in 1998. It includes an thoughtful afterward by Maurice Sendak. Perhaps because of my exposure and early dedication to Lear's original style, I tend to prefer his clever line drawings above the more recent adaptations. Yet some, like this one, are unquestionably winners.

2011

Another even more recent reinvention (2011) comes in the form of HIS SHOES WERE FAR TOO TIGHT by Edward Lear, masterminded by Daniel Pinkwater and illustrated by Calef Brown. I wrote about this magical intersection of three geniuses in one of the earliest posts on this blog, here.

The centuries-long endurance of Lear's poetry appeal, in original states and in reinterpretations across decades, is a testament to their value. Anyone who wants to "hook" readers on poetry should consider starting with Lear, whose wry humor, witty word choices, and musical meter set a high bar for all who followed, including kids' favorites like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky.

If you have LLear favorites or memories, please share them in the comments.

Praising Poetry: Poetry Month and Timeless Classics

A recent Facebook post by poet extraordinaire,  Lee Bennet Hopkins, noted this distressing statistic:
"POETRY UPDATE: Of some 3,400 children's/YA books published in 2016, less than 55 books of poetry appeared. This includes rhyme, original collections, anthologies and verse novels."

That post generated 40+ comments and reactions, all of which expressed praise for poetry in young lives, along with concern for the obvious decline of interest in producing poetry books for young readers from within the publishing industry.

I, too, bemoaned the reduced number of "collections", themed or otherwise. It's true, in the early and mid- decades of the last century there were far fewer books published for children in general. Books tended toward anthologies, retold classics, a few longer novels or series, and poetry collections aimed at young audiences that were often written by poets who primarily wrote for adults.

The children's section of the library I visited as a child had a pathetic collection. I often spent up to an hour scrounging around for books I might enjoy, most of which had been rebound in dull fabric covers. Once I settled on a few possibilities, I'd hurry to the equally pitiful poetry section. There, I'd check out my favorite and familiar titles, multiple times. Edward Lear (poems), James Thurber (cartoons), William Steig (stories and cartoons) filled my need for word play, humor, and language with the mastery of precision-cut diamonds.

April is poetry month, and I used the lower case for that phrase rather than designating it with caps. As I posted in the early weeks of this blog more than five years ago, theme months are double edged swords. Remembering my childhood willingness to reread old favorites, especially in the absence of other options, I headed over to a used book outlet and ordered a dozen or more of those favorites.

I knew that Lear's work had long outlived his life, but it wasn't until ordering that I realized the original publication date of his BOOK OF NONSENSE was 1846! I get such pleasure out of picturing Abe Lincoln reciting Lear rhymes with his sons. I have no doubt whatsoever that their shared enjoyment of those and other books, rhymes, and stories was in no way bounded by special monthly designations. 
With my position on theme months clearly stated, I'll await delivery of my old friends. I'll be back to share some more recent favorites, too, and will post about multiple poetry titles in special categories. Many of those posts will be in April, but I'll continue throughout the year. 

And here, just for the fun of it, is a link to poetry.org to access posters and activities.

The Benefit of a Bad Example

This week I received the ARC for Gail Carson Levine’s new book of poems, Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems. Illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Harper)


At only eighty pages, this little collection is jammed full of poems sharing the title, form, and unrepentant attitude of the famous William Carlos Williams poem:





This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

In an introduction that doesn't appear until page eighteen (after many poems have had their say), Levine lays out the simple pattern then challenges readers to write some, too. Her offerings involve topics ranging from fairy tale twists to sibling blackmail and beyond. Levine's wry perspectives and Cordell's wickedly clever line drawings put me in mind of a timeless favorite of my early years, Edward Lear.



As Edward Lear’s two hundredth birthday approaches, a year-long celebration of his life and life's work is underway.

There are many titles to explore, in books and online, but I love His Shoes Were Far Too Tight, by Edward Lear, Masterminded by Daniel Pinkwater, Illustrated by Calef Brown. Featuring colorfully portrayed favorites, this begins with Pinkwater’s biographic salute to Lear.

Lear was a game changer in children's literature, instrumental in generating a paradigm shift from “morality tales” about good boys and girls to stories and poems that were purely entertaining, (even if sometimes just a tad scandalous).

Pinkwater's blurb on the back fold shares his initial discovery of Lear. Like Pinkwater, I remember my first time, so to speak. I found a tattered collection of Lear limericks on a weekly library search and promptly proceeded to read anything with his name on it. Then I read them all again. And again.

From the inimitable "The Owl and the Pussycat" to his lyrical "A is for Apple" and on to his limericks (my personal pick as favorites), Lear never settled for the mundane, embracing nonsensical images and playful language that tickle the ear and the mind.
(Side note: Lear's line art can be seen on the introduction page of this book and in many online examples.)

I consider any comparison to Lear high praise indeed, and it's well-earned in Newberry-honored Levine's sassy and stimulating collection of false apology poems. I can't imagine anyone reading this without a smile.

And so, Ta-Da... my first give-away is officially launched:

Contest Rules!

Prize- One ARC of FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT: False Apology Poems, by Gail Carson Levine, Illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Harper).

To Enter- Leave a comment on this post. Just say hello, if that’s all you want to do. But I’d love to read your thoughts about the post or the blog in general.

Deadline- Between midnight, February 26 and 6:00 AM, Wednesday, February 29.

Winner Selection: Selection from all entries will be completed using Random.org
If an alternate is needed, remaining entries will be resubmitted to Random.org.

Winner Notification- Winners will be announced on March 1, here and on Twitter @PBWorkshop. To be contacted directly, include your email address or twitter@ in your comment. Without contact information, winner must respond no later than Sunday, March 4 or another name will be selected.

Who May Enter- Everyone is welcome, but the prize will be mailed only within the USA. If you are from another country and want to enter anyway, the book can be mailed to someone you know in the USA.


Psssst- pass it on....