A Lot of Silly
A Book of Nonsense
Age 4+
Picture Storybooks
World-renowned Joy Cowley brings her silly side to this collection of rhymes and nonsense old and new, illustrated in colour by master of the absurd David Barrow, for families to recite and remember.
Joy Cowley knows what makes children laugh. In this book full of absurd poems and very short, silly stories, a man takes his tadpoles for a walk in his hat, a cat is surprised by its talking feet, a tiger gobbles up a dentist, ten baggy clowns do a do-wacky dance . . . along with many more preposterous flights of imagination. Each fantastical suggestion is playfully expanded in the illustrations of David Barrow—a first-rate visual comedian. Cowley channels the spirit of classic silly humorists Spike Milligan, Edward Lear, and Ogden Nash in this exuberant collection for the family that emboldens us to experiment with language and play.
Creators
Joy Cowley is one of New Zealand's best-loved writers. Her awards include the Margaret Mahy Medal; the NZ Post Children's Book Award 2006; the Roberta Long Medal, Alabama, USA; and the AW Reed Award for Contribution to New Zealand Literature. She is a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
David Barrow is a graduate of the Cambridge School of Art where he completed a Masters in Children’s Book Illustration and received the top prize, the Sebastian Walker award for most promising children’s illustrator. He lives in England with his wife and son.
Reviews
Reminiscent of works by Spike Milligan, Shel Silverstein and Edward Lear, Crowley’s poems delight in a world of nonsense, with silly rhymes and rhythms about itchy ibises, alligator chefs, sharks in baths, cats with talking feet, and more. With clear rhymes that will be fun to read aloud, Cowley has crafted a collection that has merit both at home and in the classroom, with rhymes playing with early language and sentence structures and encouraging the most absurd of imaginations… David Barrow’s watercolour illustrations add a warmth to the whimsical text, especially with so many cats and other creatures.
Books+Publishing
And there’s plenty of delicious word play, clever rhymes and sing-songiness to get readers joining in and perhaps creating their own poems. The illustrations, in a rich range of what look to be water colours, are charming, witty and wry and a great match for the text. This one’s a keeper.
Kete Books
There’s a laugh on every page of the marvellous collection of poems old and new, ridiculous and sublime, short prose, and ghoulish treats like “Business Lunch” and “My Tiger”, originally a school reader.
The Listener, New Zealand Herald
