The Owl and the Pussycat - Softcover

Edward Lear

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0698113675 ISBN 13: 9780698113671

Publisher: Puffin Books, 1996

Synopsis

Owl sets out to woo Pussycat in a boat laden with fruit from their Caribbean island and with a guitar at his side, ready for serenading.
 
As they sail off across the sea, another story unfolds in the water beneath the boat. One by one, exotic sea creatures swim into the picture and small yellow fish seems to be looking for someone.
 
Jan Brett brings the magic of the Caribbean to her exquisitely detailed illustrations of Edward Lear’s charming poem.

About this title

Review

Edward Lear's nonsense poem about two unlikely sweethearts--an elegant owl and a beautiful cat--has found a perfect match in artist Jan Brett. She traveled to the Caribbean (the land where the Bong-tree grows, perhaps?) to research her illustrations as well as the settings, costume details, plants, and fish native to the area. Readers can follow an illustrated subplot of two yellow fish who also fall in love under the pea-green boat. A charming treatment of a classic children's poem. (Ages 3 to 7)

About the Author

With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.

As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real."

As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain," she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting."

Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband, Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan visits many different countries where she researches the architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting point for my children's books."

About this edition

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0698113675
• ISBN 13: 9780698113671
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Jan Brett