The Owl and the Pussycat

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

If there is one nonsense verse known and loved by all English speakers, it is surely Edward Lear’s tiny comic romantic masterpiece The Owl and the Pussycat. It has everything: true love requited against rather high odds (well, a cat and a bird — what are the chances?); and an exotic setting and lyrics that once read are apparently unforgettable.

The book is illustrated with bright simplicity by Erica Rutherford, whose deceptively child-like colour plates complement a classic text.