I love the illustration on the front cover of this book. The details to the things on the front cover are just amazing. It really brings the story to life. All of the illustrations throughout the story use vibrant colors and lots of details. Her illustrations make the reader feel like they are traveling in the Caribbean. Personally I am not a big fan of poetry. I didn't mind reading the book but I was more focused on the illustrations than the words. I don't know if this book would be appropriate to use in the classroom because of the words. I think the illustrations would be great for students because it really makes the reader feel a part of the story. If there were no word and only the illustrations the reader would be able to understand what is happening.

Edward Lear's nonsense poem has a lot of charm and endearment about the odd couple who went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat. The illustrations are vivid enough to fire up the imagination of children. This nonsense poem has been around for ages but it is still used in schools and homes and it is enjoyed by all. This shows the value poems have on its audience. It took them almost a year to find a ring which they buy off a pig for a shilling. How sweet is that? This is a narrative poem that has a beautiful story line that can be enjoyed by young and old. The expressive language used makes it easily accessible to all. It will be good to use in teaching, listening, reading, speaking and writing. It can be used for drama sessions in Early years as well as Years 1, 2 and 3. It can also be sung making it appealing to all. This can be analysed in depth in KS2 as it has some poetic devices such as internal rhyme: honey...money, owl...fowl, married...tarried, away...a day. The boat can be seen as a romantic setting for a love affair with green symbolising fertility. One of the striking themes in it is equal opportunities. The owl and a cat travelling together? Getting married? Who would have thought so? This shows that in an equal opportunity environment, anything could happen and all dreams could come true. In fact, the story teaches that if you want to be happy, do what you have to do without thinking about what others will say.

I read the version with the illustrations by Wendy Straw and yes, it is a children's book.

Ricky Gervais spiked my interest when he quoted the line "In a beautiful pea-green boat:" referring to one of Karl Pilkington's ramblings that fuse reality with fantasy.
It sounded to me like this story should be common knowledge. I looked up the book and author and decided I wanted to know more. As I am a fan of Spike Milligan I found that Edward Lear is right up my alley.
The Owl And The Pussycat is a romantic nonsense poem that I found funny and the little one found engaging. The illustrations done by Wendy Straw are comically beautiful.
I will definitely be reading more of Edward Lear's work.

a fun summer read for a taste of paradise on the ocean with the fishies

I thought I'd really love this, but it was really just ok.

Birds and cats are natural enemies. What happens when they get together against all odds?

Stephane Jorisch once more lends his vision to this well-known poem about an ill-matched pair. Shifting the poem’s emphasis to the outlook of those around them and making the owl a bird of high social standing and the cat from the wrong side of the tracks, Jorisch raises Lear’s nonsense poetry to a kind of sublime grandeur. The voyage in a pea-green boat becomes not so much a romantic cruise as a desperate escape from those who censor the improbable love between fowl and feline. Yet the spare but lovely illustrations make the lovers and their surroundings ethereal and whimsical, reminding us of the poem’s original child-like appeal.

I loved this book! I first read the poem as a child, and it is delightful as an illustrated children's book. Edward Lear's lyrically tells the story of Owl and Pussycat, who set sail on a pea green boat, fall in love, and get married in the land of the bong trees, then dance in the light of the moon.
Recommended.

23 pages

I was supposed to pick out a Golden Book for a baby shower, the one with the oldest publication date wins a prize, so I stumbled across this book and I was so flustered by the title I put it down to think about. I was also turned off by the owl and “pussy” cat marriage I said to my sister how perverted that was and it put an image in my head that wasn’t pleasant. I always find interspecies mating to be perverse, no matter that these two only got married, it still put an image of the two of them together in my head and might give kids the wrong idea that different animals can mate together, or just put kids to thinking about what the babies would be like and just create all kinds of problems. But the copyright date was 82, the oldest, so I ended up buying it days later. The beautiful pictures with all the different colors is what attracted me to the book because they were pretty to look at.

Upon reading the book I’m even more convinced I should’ve stayed away from it. One page in particular had me feeling really weird about it. The one where the owl is singing “O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!” Talk about awkward. Even saying it in my head was embarrassing, saying it out loud to my sister, because I just had to share it with her, even more so! I would never read this aloud to anyone else and I certainly can’t give this to a baby. I wish I hadn’t bought it; the pictures do not make up for these terrible word choices. I don’t know what was going on in the 80’s but today we have a different connotation with the word “pussy” and I for one have never and will never call a real cat a pussycat. Oh, this p word I will not use! Then there “to the land where the bong-tree grows.” There again, a bong is not something I want to read about because that’s drug paraphernalia and I wonder if it was back then too. It might be a type of tree but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to use it in a children’s book. Bongs and pussies, just what you want kids repeating! I can’t give this to a baby because I doubt parents would appreciate their kids repeating these words that in today’s world reference drugs and the female body. Then were words that kids just don't know. I never understand when authors use these big words that they know in their adult lives and expect young children to know. Like "They dined on mince and slices of quince, which they ate with a runcible spoon." I can't even follow that! I did like some of the lines, like: “They sailed away, for a year and a day” and “they danced by the light of the moon.” All in all, I think this book was for another time but today just brings up awkward subjects.

This book, and this version specifically, was given to me because it was a favorite of the gifter to read to her children, and she adored the illustrations! It is a really sweet book and it's illustrations are truly gorgeous with lots to discover on each page.

When a story is short; I enjoy acquainting its authors, artists, and origin. I had never heard of “The Owl And The Pussycat”, nor of Edward Lear. His inspiration for this odd titular pairing is as whimsical, as it is an enlightening explanation for quite a suite of factors that of course, are nonsense. Small birds are prey to cats, owls can carry small cats, and animals do not marry ceremoniously; never mind mingling species. It is a treat to learn from whence this came. I obtained it recently in a country thrift store, as a 1984 Canadian retelling by Canadian artist, Ron Berg.

The nice thing about retellings is clueing our modern generations into poetry and stories from all the way back in 1871! It seems Edward was well-known, with a fun and educational bent. Our poem was published in a compilation entitled: “Nonsense, Songs, Stories, Botany, And Alphabets”. He composed the poem for a friend’s 3 year-old daughter; which justifies an emphasis on cute rhymes and images instead of science. I imagine reading this with a lilt.

Ron is from Toronto and has a graceful, pretty, fancy style suited to his concept. He imagined this tale as a romance set on a cruise ship. I get the impression the owl and pussycat are an established couple who made this trip together, because they marry on an island after they disembark. As a matter of fact, they must have made quite a trustworthy boat rental with regard for their nautical ability, because they row themselves the rest of the way to the ship’s destination. It is lovely that the ship catches up shortly and the passengers are their wedding guests. There is a plentiful banquet in a lush jungle. Ron’s elegant, dreamlike tableaux make up for the bizarre subject.

"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Memorized when I was 2 or 3, still know it :-)