Books at Bedtime: Nonsense Poetry
Chicken Spaghetti’s Poetry Friday this week highlights a piggy limerick. I enjoyed the quotation of a limerick interwoven with her line-by-line critique, which seems to be heading towards creating a new form of comic verse… I think Edward Lear would approve! We have been reading and reciting Lear’s limericks on and off over the school holidays, following the visit of a friend who started inventing them at the dinner table. My younger son’s love of playing with words until they are transmuted into something not-quite-completely different is fully satisfied by Lear’s Nonsense Alphabets, which he loves reading aloud with me and then chewing over on his own afterwards:
A was once an Apple-pie,
Pidy
Widy
Tidy
Pidy
Nice insidy
Apple-pie
And so on…
We were also bowled over in a Devonshire pottery (on our way home from Cornwall) when we were regaled with a complete rendition of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky – truly inspiring! By chance, we had been listening to a dramatised recording of Alice’s Adventures through the Looking Glass in the car so the 
boys were able to join in in parts, thus gaining more kudos than they truly deserved!
Now I really must seek out Sukumar Ray’s collection of nonsense poetry, Abol Tabol, as chosen by Swapna Dutta in a Personal View for PaperTigers. Do any of you have a favorite of his that you would recommend – or any other nonsense poetry for children?
September 1st, 2007 at 6:26 am
I am so flattered that Chicken Spaghetti was mentioned here at Papertigers. Thank you!
“The Book of Pigericks” is a hoot.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:56 am
Well, we’re flattered that you’re flattered – thank you! Yes, I look forward to delving into “The Book of Pigericks”…
September 6th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Speaking of Edward Lear’s limericks, Kids Can Press has created wonderful illustrated editions of THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT (due out in Oct.) as part of their “Visions in Poetry” series. They also have a very cool JABBERWOCKY. Both are great for YA audiences.
See
September 7th, 2007 at 2:37 am
Thanks so much for pointing these out. It’s great that these classic poems are being aimed at a YA audience – so often it seems there’s a gap between childhood and returning to them as an adult. The “Visions in Poetry” is a really exciting series. I can’t link to the actual books but it’s definitely worth finding them on the Kids Can Press website… A must-have for library bookshelves?