Books with title The owl and the pussy-cat

Edward Lear's classic poem, The Owl and the Pussy-cat, beautifully illustrated by Charlotte Voake and introduced with a foreword by Julia Donaldson The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat... Edward Lear's classic poem has delighted readers of all ages for generations. It is given new life by Charlotte Voake's exquisite illustrations in this beautiful new edition. Introduced by a foreword from world-renowned children's author and Lear devotee, Julia Donaldson, this is a book to be treasured by Lear fans both old and young. Be sure to look out for Julia Donaldson's sequel to this much-loved poem, The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat.

"The Owl and the Pussycat" features four animals - an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey - and tells the story of the love between the title characters who marry in the land "where the Bong-tree grows". The Owl and the Pussycat set out to sea in a pea green boat with honey and "plenty of money" wrapped in a five pound note. The Owl serenades the Pussycat while gazing at the stars and strumming on a small guitar. He describes her as beautiful. The Pussycat responds by describing the Owl as an "elegant fowl" and compliments him on his singing. She urges they marry but they don't have a ring. They sail away for a year and a day to a land where Bong trees grow and discover a pig with a ring in his nose in a wood. They buy the ring for a shilling and are married the next day by a turkey. They dine on mince and quince using a "runcible spoon", then dance hand-in-hand on the sand in the moonlight.

The owl and pussycat have gone to sea often in the past 100 years, but never in a boat so green, on a sea so blue, into horizons and lands so glowing with color. Artist Erica Rutherford has created beautiful silk-screened images of Edward Lear’s much loved fantasy poem of two unlikely companions and a spare little boat. First published 150 years ago, “The Owl and the Pussycat” is impossible, nonsensical, whimsical, and it is in those very elements that its appeal lies.