Written with style and heart by Wolverton Hill and illustrated with whimsical art by Laura Carlin, this love letter to Edward Lear brings him wonderfully to life for young readers.
Edward Lear popularized the limerick as we know it and invented the modern literary genre of nonsense, made famous by Lewis Carroll. But did you know that as a teenager, he was a natural history artist on par with John J. Audubon? He has a memorial in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, placing him among the UK’s most important authors. Yet even still, Lear seems underappreciated. This picture-book biography will change all of that. Not only does it tell of what Lear did, it also shows who he was by conflating the naturalistic and nonsense, as Lear himself did, and by daring to be both fanciful and playful, for the facts of a life alone can never give you the full picture of a person.
Lear liked children and children liked Lear, for they shared an innate sense of play and silliness, as well as a tolerance for the absurd and unusual. As Lear understood so well, being silly isn't just about having fun, as a sense of play is foundational to a resilient life. And of course, nonsense as practiced by Lear was a sharp weapon of satire against rigid Victorian conformity.
Whether in his keenly observed work as a natural history painter or in his nonsense verse, Lear animated the world through a deep sense of empathy, and it is in this way that author Hill and illustrator Carlin deliver Lear to us. Rich backmatter includes some Lear poems and paintings, a chronology, and notes from the author and illustrator.
Praise
"Very well researched and highly factual, this is the kind of informational fiction picture book biography that makes creativity the name of the game."
—A Fuse #8 Production (A School Library Journal blog), Betsy Bird
“A fitting portrait of the creator of nonsensical foolishness… Hill’s writing complements Carlin’s ethereal illustrations, creating a fanciful world full of wonder and nonsensical imagery… A lovingly unique tribute to a master of whimsicality.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’ has delighted generations of children, and this thoroughgoing picture book biography carefully documents the life of its author, Edward Lear… In this extended, dreamlike examination of a creator who found ways to express his love of the unconventional, Carlin weaves Lear-like scribbles (and some of the artist’s own work) in and around smudged, often ghostly figures, portrayed with various skin tones.”
—Publishers Weekly
