The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

January 1, 1990
This version of Lear's popular poem is distinguished by its very Victorian but unfussy illustrations, which focus not only on the familiar lovestruck pair, but on their very model of a Grand Tour. After festively boarding a luxurious ``pea-green'' boat decorated with gilded carvings, the couple--together with assorted animal families--ride gondolas, sail past the Statue of Liberty and land on a tropical island where passengers and crew celebrate their nuptials. In Todd's masterful renditions, these elegant, genteel settings and costumes are almost photographic in their clarity. Models of propriety abound: sumptuous teas are served, and guests gather for a shipboard musicale where the owl ``sang to a small guitar.'' The dapper creature is resplendent in a plaid deerstalker cap and (later) in tails with blue spats, while his perfectly beguiling mate dazzles with her lace bustles and parasols. Detailed without being cluttered, the illustrations are inventive without stretching the text too far in this perfectly satisfying variation on an old favorite. All ages.

September 4, 1995
Hague gives free rein to dark whimsy in this eclectic sampling of Lear's verse, which includes such favorites as the title poem as well as "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo," "The Cummerbund" and a host of limericks. Lear's menagerie of odd creatures and peculiar persons (e.g., the "Young Lady whose eyes/ Were unique as to color and size") provide rich material for Hague to work with, and he exploits it with robust comic grotesqueries. Saturated earth tones mix with fiery flashes of red and orange in a combination that's instantly identifiable as pure Hague, as is the profusion of detail. Ending, tongue firmly in cheek, with the limerick "There Was an Old Man of the Hague," the artist includes what just might be a sly self-portrait. Ages 5-8.

Starred review from May 14, 2001
In this gloriously madcap setting of Lear's classic, the famous nonsense poem of a nautical romance receives star treatment. Knight (Eloise) conceives of Lear's verses as a series of theatrical tableaux, with elaborate sets and exaggerated expressions big enough to be seen from the last row. He casts an eccentric old fellow who looks suspiciously like Lear (who appears as a bust on the title page) as Professor Comfort. The gentleman invites two schoolchildren (the boy bears an odd resemblance to an owl, the girl to a cat) in for tea and a little poetry. As he reads, the children morph magically into the animals in the poem, the walls of the cottage fall away and the pea-green window seat becomes the famous boat, adrift on a briny sea. The Owl and Pussy-cat court, marry and dance in the dazzling landscapes of the Land of Bong before turning back into children and running home for dinner. The illustrations reveal more delights with every inspection: hints of the animals to come can be detected in the children's clothing, earnest flying fish in the Land of Bong call the children's names as their mothers in the real world hunt for them, a replica of the professor's cottage—constructed entirely of edibles—appears in the Land of Bong. In Knight's hands, Lear's poem assumes a complete and memorable visual life of its own—it is a ticket to the best sort of entertainment. All ages.