His Shoes Were Far Too Tight: Poems by Edward Lear

By Edward Lear, Daniel Pinkwater and Calef Brown

A collection of Edward Lear’s classic “sumptuously silly verse” with fittingly witty new artwork to delight nonsense lovers of all ages (Publishers Weekly).
 
Celebrate the joy of ridiculousness with these endlessly fascinating and imaginative poems, as fresh and delightful today as they were when Edward Lear wrote them more than a hundred years ago—from “The Owl and the Pussycat” to “The Pobble Who Has No Toes.” With an introduction from renowned author Daniel Pinkwater and whimsical artwork by Calef Brown, this charming book proves that, sometimes, there’s nothing children need more than a healthy dose of nonsense!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781452126692

Book preview

Introduction

He was a fat, goofy-looking guy with thick eyeglasses. He liked people, but he was shy. He liked kids. He liked animals. He had a cat named Old Foss. This is a picture he drew of himself:

old fossCat

His name was Edward Lear.

edward lear

He was born a long time ago—almost 200 years. Mr. Lear was a good artist. He did a famous book of illustrations of parrots, painted landscapes, and even gave drawing lessons to Queen Victoria. (This didn’t last long, possibly because his behavior was too silly to allow him to hang around the royal court.)

Because he was shy and had health problems all his life, Mr. Lear kept to himself, which meant he got to observe people from a distance. He may have noticed that

Adults are a bit ridiculous.

He could see the funny side of things—and not just funny, he saw how nice it is when things don’t make sense in the way we are taught to expect them to make sense. He called this

Reviews for His Shoes Were Far Too Tight

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A colorful, whimsically illustrated collection of Lear's entertaining nonsense verse.

[jenstrongin-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

We took this out of the library but may have to purchase it for ourselves. We keep renewing it and have read it many times over! Calef Brown's illustrations make Lear's poetry even more brilliant and fun to read.