How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear: Nonsense Poems [Hardcover]

Edward Lear (Author), Bohdan Butenko (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1994 | Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

A book of four, topsy-turvy nonsense poems. Masterfully written and whimsically illustrated, this book will enchant and delight any young reader.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Butenko, a Polish artist, disappoints with these eccentric, haphazard renderings of four poems by Lear. Butenko draws in grainy white medium on a dark, matte ground, givng the effect of chalk on a blackboard. He makes heavy use of preschoolish-fans might say ``primitive''-stick figures with spherical, smiley-face heads. The autobiographical ``How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear!'' (Lear himself called it ``Self-Portrait of the Laureate of Nonsense'') opens the volume, with Butenko hand-lettering every word; the other three selections pair doodles with mostly mechanical type. Unsurprisingly, the richness of this book lies in Lear's playful but melancholy verse: ``The Jumblies'' realizes the envy of people neither foolhardy nor brave enough to ``[sail] to sea in a sieve''; ``The Dong with a Luminous Nose'' evokes longing and heartbreak (for this selection, Butenko crudely copies Lear's own cartoon); ``The Scroobious Pip'' introduces a bizarre animal that suggests Lewis Carroll's Jabberwock. Neither Butenko nor Lemieux (see There Was an Old Man..., reviewed above) improves on Lear's own illustrations, which can be viewed in such volumes as the Everyman's Library Children's Classics edition of A Book of Nonsense. Ages 4-10.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 74 pages
• Publisher: Stemmer House Publishers; 1st edition (September 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880451262
• ISBN-13: 978-0880451260
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 9.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,146,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo for Butenko!, June 15, 2008

By 

Balancing Man Ltd - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear: Nonsense Poems (Hardcover)

The above "editorial review" couldn't be more off the mark. Butenko's illustrations are brilliant, a classic of East European modernist design. I love the original Lear illustrations (there would be no Gorey without Lear!) but that doesn't cloud my appreciation of Butenko. In fact, this might be the best "contemporay" Lear available. And I include both Edward Gorey and James Marshall in this category. Do yourself a favor and buy this book before it slips out of print and used copies slowly dry up.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and challenging examples of nonsense verse, April 18, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear: Nonsense Poems (Hardcover)

Nonsense verse done well has a charm unlike anything else. It is generally funny and the best contains subtle meanings that must be plucked from the froth like the best berries from a tangled briar patch. This book can be described using those terms. The illustrations are childlike, yet the verse is very adult. There is talk of going to sea in a sieve.
The names of the three poems are:

*) How pleasant to know Mr. Lear
*) The jumblies
*) The dong with a luminous nose
*) The scroobius pip

If you want to snicker and be forced to think a bit before you get it, this book is for you.