ACHUKA Book of the Day 11 Sep 2025
An ACHUKA Book of the Year 2025
See also by Laura Carlin:
London: A History [ACHUKA Book of the Day 31 July 2024]
“Most readers don’t give much thought to the overall design of a book — here the work of Dasha Tolstikova (herself a multitalented picture book author and illustrator). The text (a mélange of typefaces, hand lettering and what looks like cutout collage or stenciling); the cloth case in the same orange as Lear’s vest; the just-right balance of words and images that lets the nonsense go wild — all combine to epitomize the picture book at its best: the three elements of text, illustration and design elegantly telling one story.” New York Times
“A lovingly unique tribute to a master of whimsicality.” KIRKUS
Betsy Bird interviews the picture book’s author…
Edward Lear popularized the limerick as we know it but did you know that as a teenager, he was a natural history artist on par with John J. Audubon?
He has a memorial in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, placing him among the UK’s most important authors. Yet even still, Lear seems underappreciated.
This picture-book biography will change all of that. Not only does it tell of what Lear did, it also shows who he was by conflating the naturalistic and nonsense, as Lear himself did, and by daring to be both fanciful and playful — for the facts of a life alone can never give you the full picture of a person.
Lear liked children and children liked Lear. They shared an innate sense of play and silliness, as well as a tolerance for the absurd and unusual. As Lear understood so well, being silly isn’t just about having fun, as a sense of play is foundational to a resilient life. Nonsense, as practised by Lear, was a sharp weapon of satire against rigid Victorian conformity.
Whether in his keenly observed work as a natural history painter or in his nonsense verse, Lear animated the world through a deep sense of empathy, and it is in this way that author Hill and illustrator Carlin deliver Lear to us. Rich backmatter includes some Lear poems and paintings, a chronology, and notes from the author and illustrator.
Wolverton Hill is the nonsense twin of writer Barry Wolverton. He lives in the upper right hemisphere of Barry’s brain, on a small island in the middle of the woods with two chairs, half a candle, and a jug without a handle. For more foolishness, visit him at www.wolvertonhill.com.
Laura Carlin is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, where she won several awards, including the Sheila Robinson Drawing Prize, the Quentin Blake Award (twice), and the 2004 National Magazine Award. Her illustrations have been featured widely, including in the New Yorker, and the New York Times. She lives in London.
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Book Review: ‘The Boy Who Became a Parrot: A Foolish Biography of Edward Lear, Who Invented Nonsense,’ by Wolverton Hill; illustrated by Laura Carlin https://t.co/YJJ8EGFhyx
— Thinking English (@thinkingenglish) August 8, 2025
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