The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse - Softcover

Blake, Quentin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140366601 ISBN 13: 9780140366600

Publisher: Puffin, 1996

Synopsis

Ever eaten Poodle Strudel? Slain a Jabberwock? Bathed in Irish Stew? Quentin Blake is one of the best loved of children’s illustrators. In this brilliant book he has selected and illustrated his favourite comic verse, making it pure entertainment for nonsense-lovers of all ages. His unique style of drawing brings a new perspective to every poem. Classic writers such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear are combined with more contemporary talents such as Roger McGough, Margaret Mahy and Russell Hoban. With fifteen wonderfully absurd sections, including Distracting Creatures, Sticky Ends, I Wish I Were a Jelly Fish, A Recipe for Indigestion and Chortling and Galumphing, here is a delightful collection of the topsy-turvy, the fantastical, the anarchic, the illogical and the utterly wonderful.

About this title

Product Description:

Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse

Review:

Dancing flamingos, poodle strudel, Glurpy Slurpy Skakagralls: The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse has them all. Galumph with Lewis Carroll and his "Jabberwocky." Meet James Whitcomb Riley's lugubrious whing-whang and A.B. Paterson's football hurling emus. Learn to plant a mailbox, why yaks should be commended and the fate of Auntie Flo (who became a crow). And while you're at it, don't forget to chortle at Blake's fabulous (or as Lewis Carroll would say, frabjous) drawings: a Greenland whale lounging in her nightie, Mother Hubbard's pipe-smoking, flute-playing, goat-riding dog, along with dozens more.

Like this excerpt from Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach:

We may see the venemous Pink-Spotted Scrunch
Who can chew up a man with one bite.
It likes to eat five of them roasted for lunch
And eighteen for supper at night.
But who cares! Let us go from the horrible hill!
Let us roll! Let us bowl! Let us plunge!

Blake has searched high and low to bring us some of the best nonsense verse in the English language. Along with time-tested favourites by Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, A.E. Housman and Spike Milligan, he includes the lesser known (but no less brilliant) Roger McGough and Jack Prelutsky. Also making rare and welcome appearances are John Updike and John Ciardi, two writers so well known for their serious writing that their extraordinarily silly poems are often (regrettably) overlooked. --Martha Silano

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0140366601
• ISBN 13: 9780140366600
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288