3 h 40 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
An owl and a cat sail away in a pea-green boat. Why should sense have all the fun?
Edward Lear’s Nonsense Books gathers limericks, longer poems, stories, recipes and alphabets into a world where oddness belongs. In The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, two unlikely lovers set out to sea with honey and money. In The Jumblies, voyagers with green heads and blue hands choose a sieve for their boat.
The jokes come with a tender side. Lear’s outsiders wander, sit alone or long for company, and The Dong with a Luminous Nose brings sadness into the fun. Alongside the verse, pen drawings introduce long-legged men, odd birds and wide-eyed creatures. Nonsense Cookery turns the familiar recipe into something no kitchen can follow.
What you’ll discover
- Limericks full of character Meet an Old Man with a beard and other figures shaped by playful rhymes.
- Boats beyond common sense Follow unlikely travellers onto the sea, where even a sieve becomes a vessel.
- A tender kind of nonsense Find lonely creatures beneath the jokes, with a longing for company you may recognise.
- Recipes without reason Explore impossible dishes and playful alphabets that turn familiar forms into jokes.
- Rhymes worth saying aloud Enjoy steady beats and strong refrains that invite you to keep a straight face.
Is it for you?
This book suits parents reading aloud, lovers of wordplay, anyone who wants light verse with a kind heart, and readers who enjoy old pen drawings. If you want plot, argument or realism, you may find it less suited.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The limerick that began it all
- A sea voyage for two unlikely lovers
- Voyagers and wanderers in odd boats
- Lonely creatures and tender sadness
- Playing with words, food and plants
- How to read Lear and why he lasts
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- 15-minute summary
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
The limerick that began it all
Lear did not invent the limerick, but he made it famous and gave it its first great run of books. A typical Lear limerick opens with a line that names a person and a place or a trait, such as an Old Man with a beard or a Young Lady of somewhere far off. The next lines describe what that person does, and the last line often repeats the first line's ending almost word for word, so the verse seems to chase its own tail.
That repeated ending is one of Lear's quiet signatures. Later writers of limericks like a sharp joke in the last line. Lear prefers a soft, circular closing, as if the poem has sat down and gone nowhere. The humour comes from the odd scene itself, not from a clever punch.
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The author
Edward Lear
1812–1888 · English nonsense poet and illustrator
Edward Lear (1812–1888) was a British artist, illustrator, author and poet. He was born in London and later lived in Italy, where he died at San Remo. He published A Book of Nonsense in 1846 and Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets in 1871. He also illustrated birds.
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Questions about Libri nonsense
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What is Nonsense Books by Edward Lear about?
It is a collection of comic poems, limericks, stories, recipes, botany and alphabets. The pieces take place in a made-up world of odd people and animals, and Lear illustrated them himself with quick pen drawings.
What is a runcible spoon?
It is a made-up item from The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Lear never defined the word, and it has no fixed meaning. It was chosen for its sound, and later writers have borrowed it for odd cutlery.
Are Lear's nonsense poems only for children?
No. Children enjoy the rhythm, rhymes and silly pictures, while adults often notice the loneliness, wit and love of language underneath. Lear wrote for the children of friends, yet many adults treasure the poems too.
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