Bisky Bats and Pussy Cats Edward Lear, Matilda Harrison (Illustrator) List Price: £5.99 Paperback - 25 pages (October 1999) Bloomsbury Children's Classic; ISBN: 0747541248 What fun! A selection of Edward Lear's animal nonsense verse, clearly set out with jolly illustrations by Matilda Harrison. The choice here ranges from the well known, such as the Owl And The Pussy-Cat, to the less familiar such as The Pelican Chorus, plus a large selection of limericks. I suppose if you don't like nonsense poems, you won't like these - but I loved them enough to read the whole book aloud in one go. As a teacher, I think it's important for children to get a sense of the rhyme and rhythm and sound of language - and because nonsense verse worries more about these things and less about logic and whether words 'really exist', they're an excellent stimulus. And whom better to learn from than the master? Of course, a selection of classic reprints like this is, in some ways, as much a showcase for the artist as anything else. Matilda Harrison's painted illustrations are superb - uncluttered yet detailed, combining realism with an oddly surreal edge here and there, and never, ever twee. Return to index