Garbage Delight: Another Helping

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Fans of Dennis Lee’s Alligator Pie and Bubblegum Delicious will
welcome “another helping” with open arms. Or should that be
“mouths,” since Lee’s poems are best read aloud, with listeners
joining in.

Garbage Delight includes many of Lee’s best-loved poems along with
some amusing new ones like “Half-way Dressed”: “I sometimes sit /
When I’m half-way dressed / With my head in a sweater / And feel
depressed.” In Maryann Kovalski’s accompany illustration, Papa
Raccoon looks trapped in a not-quite-large-enough sweater while his
racoon children look worried. The ubiquitous raccoons are the main
characters, although an alligator in an armchair appears on one page
with a book: “Alligator verse, alligator verse, I found it in a book,
and went from bad to worse—First I needed medicine, now I need a
hearse, And please take away my alligator verse.”

Torontonian Maryann Kovalski has written and illustrated more than 25
books, including Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut. Her
high-spirited illustrations in this fun book partner the text perfectly,
catching the rambunctious spirit of Lee’s impudent and imaginative
rhymes with humor and imagination. Poet and artist make a superb team
for kids of all ages. Highly recommended.