The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-Cat

K-Gr 3—Donaldson, beloved author of The Gruffalo and professed fan of Edward Lear, tackles a sequel to one of his most famous nonsense poems. A fleet rhythm—faithful to Lear's elliptical meter and similarly peppered with internal rhyme—propels readers through the absurdist landscape, gently rendered by illustrator Voake (who provided the artwork for a previous edition of the original poem). At more than twice the length of Lear's creation, Donaldson's poem packs in more story—not necessarily the point of fantastical verse. New characters and several new destinations send the romantic pair on a whirlwind quest with less of the wandering lilt of the original. Voake's warm watercolors enrich the tale, evoking the atmosphere of each stop as the pair search for their missing wedding ring from the rocky beach of Chankly Bore to the precipitous slope of Jelly Bo Lee. Charming extratextual details, such as a spiral tree ramp traversed by doves, invite readers to spend more time rambling through Voake's imaginative world. And while Donaldson offers no indelible neologism in the vein of the runcible spoon, she proves deft with existing language, trippingly delivering phrases such as "impeccable gossamer gloves" and "the luminous Nose."