This picture book holds 40 of Edward Lear's limericks.

The instant New York Times bestseller featured on NPR's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon! B. J. Novak (bestselling author of The Book With No Pictures) described this groundbreaking poetry collection as "Smart and sweet, wild and wicked, brilliantly funny--it's everything a book for kids should be." Lauded by critics as a worthy heir to such greats as Silverstein, Seuss, Nash and Lear, Harris's hilarious debut molds wit and wordplay, nonsense and oxymoron, and visual and verbal sleight-of-hand in masterful ways that make you look at the world in a whole new wonderfully upside-down way. With enthusiastic endorsements from bestselling luminaries such as Lemony Snicket, Judith Viorst, Andrea Beaty, and many others, this entirely unique collection offers a surprise around every corner. Adding to the fun: Lane Smith, bestselling creator of beloved hits like It's a Book and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, has spectacularly illustrated this extraordinary collection with nearly one hundred pieces of appropriately absurd art. It's a mischievous match made in heaven! "Ridiculous, nonsensical, peculiar, outrageous, possibly deranged--and utterly, totally, absolutely delicious. Read it! Immediately!" --Judith Viorst, bestselling author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Over 90 delightful limericks and 12 longer poems, including such classics as "The Owl and the Pussy-cat," "The Jumblies," and "Calico Pie," all accompanied by Lear's amusing illustrations.

Edward Lear's beloved poem has charmed readers since it was first published in 1871. 4+ yrs.

An illustrated version of the classic nonsense poem from "Through the Looking Glass."

Edward Lear began his career as an ornithological illustrator, becoming one of the first major artists to draw birds from living models. During this period he was employed to paint the birds from the private menagerie owned by Edward Stanley, the 13th Earl of Derby and one of Lear’s closest friends. In 1837, Lear’s health started to decline. His deteriorating eyesight and failing lungs forced him to abandon the detailed painting required for depicting birds, and, with the help of the earl, he moved to Rome where he established himself as a poet of literary nonsense. While Lear was visiting the Earl of Derby, he wrote poems and drew silly sketches to entertain the earl’s children. In 1846, he collected together his pile of limericks and illustrations and published his first poetical book, titled A Book of Nonsense and dedicated to the Earl of Derby and his children. He decided to publish under the pseudonym Derry down Derry, but after he started making plans for more books, he republished under his real name. His next book, Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets wasn’t published until 24 years later, in 1870. Lear then released More Nonsense, which contains more limericks, in 1872, and Laughable Lyrics in 1877. This final book in the series contains many of Lear’s most famous fantastical creatures, such as the Quangle Wangle. The influence of Lear’s poetry in the twentieth-century can be seen in styles like the surrealism movement and the theater of the absurd.

Presents a collection of classic tales divided into such categories as bedtime tales, Aesop's fables, classic children's stories, nursery rhymes, and nonsense poems, including such stories as "Puss in Boots," "The Princess Nobody," "Old Mother Hubbard," and "The Queen of the Pirate Isle."