The Owl and the Pussycat
PreSchool-Grade 4&ndash;Lear's poem is beautifully illustrated with a mixture of elaborate, stylized borders and sumptuous portrayals of natural elements like verdant plant and tree leaves and colorful tropical flowers. Realistic portrayals of sea creatures abound, and honeybees with exactingly delineated wings swoop above a fanciful beehive. Waves swell and swirl around the pea-green boat, the owl holds his guitar with large outstretched feathers and looks appropriately lovelorn, and, in one arresting scene, the cat sits with her neck resting on his shoulder. In one playful spread, a solicitous owl feeds a slice of quince on the runcible spoon to his sprawling feline sweetheart. Each verse is presented on a separate page. Circle borders frame some vignettes, and narrow bands of white space around most of the pages add pleasing variety to the layout. A charming presentation.&ndash;Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma Library, CACopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.