Nonsense! by Edward Lear

Lear, Edward. 2004. Nonsense!. New York: Atheneum.

Including only a small portion of Edward Lear's collection of limericks, Nonsense! offers a nice assortment of the author's simple, silly four-line poems. Each limerick is framed in swirling, calligraphy pen, and backed by old-fashioned, print wallpaper.

There was a Young Lady of Ryde,

Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied;

She purchased some clogs, and some small spotted dogs,

And frequently walked about Ryde.

Re-told through full-page illustrations; the limericks are brought to life by Valorie Fisher's photographs of whimsical, cutpaper, watercolor, and china figurine collages. Interesting touches are added that enable modern readers to more fully understand the context and setting of these centuries-old poems. In The Young Lady of Ryde, the young lady strides along the boardwalk with her spotted china dogs; carrying a shopping bag from "Ryde's Seaside Clogs-Isle of Wight." Just as they have been since he first wrote them; Mr. Lear's limericks are for all ages.