Poetry for Young People: Edward Lear

Poetry for Young People

by Edward Lear, Edward Mendelson (Editor), Laura Huliska-Beith (Illustrator)

“Huliska-Beith’s smiling, rubber-limbed figures dance through vertiginously tilted, brightly colored minimalist settings… As a presentation of Lear’s better-known poems, this makes a thought—and laugh—provoking bridge.” –Booklist

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens, School

48 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2001

About the author

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; and as a (minor) illustrator of Alfred Tennyson's poems.
As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.

Reviews

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations. Great picks of Lear’s works for this book. Some we hadn’t been introduced too. I simply love his Sea in a Sieve poem.

[Karina Arroyo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book exciting! I am honestly surprised by how much of a great job this kind of poetry book does while trying to present poetry to children. Not only does this book have creative poetry but it also has amazing illustrations. However, the most amazing thing about the "Poetry for Young People" books is that they also provide short definitions of words that children may not know right on the page where the word is located. I think these books are being made in order to assure children learn about poetry but also grow some interest. Learning about poetry is very important because it is a way of expressing ones feelings. Understanding poetry or figurative language is important in order for children to have a better understanding of what is being said by people in their surroundings. I also liked how on top of each poem their is kind of like an introduction or explanation of the poem that follows, this in a way is to assure students understand what they are reading. In the end, i think that many of the poems in this book are very creative and fun and i think overall they were chosen becuase the collector knew it would grab the attention of children.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a collection of twenty poems by Edward Lear. Of course, it includes the classic verse, 'The Owl and the Pussycat,' along with many of his seemingly nonsensical poems.

I really enjoyed reading the introduction, which includes several pages of biographical information and influences on his writing.

Overall, it's a fun, fast read and I really enjoyed the poems and the quirky illustrations.

interesting quote:

"The characters in his poems - botht the human ones and the made-up animals - are also passionate seekers of justice and freedom. No matter how ridiculous they sound, they almost always refuse to do what others expect of them. No matter how small and weak, they are brave and adventurous, and many of them find joy in a country far away from the one in which they began." (p. 4)

[Cheryl]

Too much for curmudgeonly me, but I imagine many families would enjoy this as a read-aloud. I did appreciate the biography. I did not know Lear made a living by painting.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five stars for this great series. Love the format, illustrations, and smattering of famous poems.

Three stars for the poems. After reading Lear and Jack Prelutsky, I've realized that I'm just not a fan of nonsense poems. I'm reading Lewis Carroll poems right now and I actually quite enjoy those. They are silly but also clever. They have slightly sarcastic, biting humor that just tickles me. Prelutsky and Lear write ridiculous nonsense that doesn't make sense, but is supposed to be fun and humorous. I can see why some people would like it, but I really do not.

My favorite poem in the book is the The Akond of Swat.

[Elnara Browers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: collection of funny poems by 19th century England's poet Edward Lear, including "The Owl and the Pussy-cat"
Book Level: Lexile 230 L, ATOS 2.5
Mentor text trait: poems are written in both prose and rhyme and express short fantasy stories. Word choice is funny and made up.
Recommendation: writing lesson on poetry, using unique words, rhymes that don't necessarily make sense but add character.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry gets five stars, but the introduction only two. More straightwashing (a problem with this entire series.) No, Edward Lear didn't ask only one woman his entire life to marry him (and one who was 46 years younger than he and who said no, twice) because he was "so shy." He was, as my mother-in-law says, "gay as the day is long." Telling kids that some people in the world are gay isn't going to warp them, and it's not developmentally inappropriate. It would probably save lives.

[Juliet Brambrink · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great overview of Edward Lear’s fun poetry. Hailey and I both enjoyed it. Lear is a great example of how poems do not have to be self-serious and epic - they can be fun to read and enjoyable for the reader. My favorite from this collection is Mr. and Mrs. Spikky Sparrow.

[Hayley Murray-Alvarado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry 2001
I loved the color in this book and the different topics of poems. I would have this book in my library for students interested in poetry.

[Nobi Nobes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very funny and weird!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read with the kids. Lots of nonsense.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward Lear's zany poems and limericks came highly recommended to me. Maybe it's just not my thing? I wasn't a huge fan of this book of poems. They are weird and filled with fun rhymes and crazy, made-up words (usually my thing), but there is so much that just doesn't make any sense at all. Perhaps it's the language barrier--these do contain a lot of English (as in the UK) words and colloquialisms.
The good parts are the short intro/explanation before (most) of the poems. This really helped give me some context and kind of make sense of the proceeding poem. Oddly enough, my children were not keen on these and often cut me off when I read the short paragraph asking me to just read the poem. hmmf
The illustrations are interesting--very colorful, detailed and go well (for the most part) with the poems.
I am not sure how I would use this in a classroom. This might not be something I can incorporate into a lesson--there is just so much other great poetry out there!

[Catherine Fevery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Lear is a very creative writer in his children's poetry. This book was, full of the craziest made up words that you can think of. It is great for keeping children's attention though because they will be amused by the words they hear and read in this book. Also, the illustrations in this book are very cartoonish and eye catching. I would suggest this book as something to read to your children. Children would enjoy being able to look at the creative pictures while being read the ridiculous rhymes. The poems in this book are great for introducing children to poetry and can help the younger children learn how to rhyme and shows them which words rhyme with what. The book seems as though it is targeted at a bit of an older age group, children eight to ten, but would be a good book for parents to read to their children as well.

[Samantha]

A fun collection of poems and illustrations written by Edward Lear and illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith. Each poem has a synopsis describing the main idea or explaining a unknown word. I think this book would be great for independent reading because it does have the synopsis and definitions. It could also be easily used to teach poem concepts such as rhyming.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call me picky, but when someone falls in love with a girl with green hair, she should not have red hair in the illustration next to the poem!!! I had several other issues with the illustrations being off. I really enjoyed the poems though!

[Leonel Dominguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was an old man with a beard, who said,'It is just as i feared!.Two owls and a hen, four larks and a wren, have all built their nests in my beared!"Edward Lear like reading to children and doing poems for them.

[Cesar Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good childrens book includes plenty of easy to read kids poems. Interesting themes. An example of this the the very first poem, the owl and the pussy cat. it shows two should be enemies who sacrifice to be together.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good selection of poems
and information about the poems explaining them to children
i love the way this series presents the poems with beautiful pictures and explianations

[Minke Y.]

A real ���whale” of a tale.

[Inter N.]

A real 'whale' of a tale.

[Jaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with the help of my six year old, assisted with the occasional silly voice. The illustrations were fun, and the poems were entertaining.

[Arionne Mccray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the rhyming in this book. I love the way everything is colored and drawn out.

[Mrs · Rating 1 out of 5]

The poetry itself is fun but I really don't care for the illustrations. I gave the book away.

[Gracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, Very imaginative, A happy book.