The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

 Check Hilary Knight's The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (reissue c. 2001) out of your local library and be enchanted.  The illustrations are the most stunning interpretation of Edward Lear's classic poem that the Mister and I have ever come across.  Not only were we spellbound, the children were too!  Who says that adults can't be hypnotized by childrens' books?  Each page transports the reader into another world.  Perhaps one of Knight's greatest masterpieces because he fills each spread in The Owl and the Pussy-Cat with quirky, magical images to feast your imagination upon.

Limericks

Form: Limericks are a type of poetic verse with specific rhythm and rhyme.  They're usually five lines long where the 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines' rhyme alter from the 3rd and 4th lines' rhyme.

Limericks make for quite amusing reads.  Most subject matter typically leans to an exhibition of the ridiculous, making these the perfect poetical material for tweens.  Break out some Edward Lear to your elementary and middle school son's delight!  When you find your tweens on a critical streak, encourage them to place their complaint in the form of a limerick.  The humor will be a welcome relief! 

Where do I find limericks?  Shel Silverstein writes some catchy ones in Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic.  Edgar A. Guest and Edward Lear are know for some ridiculous rhymes.  And Poetry for young People has a special volume devoted solely to Limericks.

Here's one by Edward Lear for your enjoyment:

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, "It is just as I feared!

     Two Owls and a Hen,

     Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!