The Boy Who Became a Parrot: A Foolish Biography of Edward Lear, Who Invented Nonsense
by Wolverton Hill; illus. by Laura Carlin
Primary, Intermediate    Enchanted Lion    84 pp.
7/25    9781592704132    $22.99

For the most part, this is a straightforward picture-book biography of poet, natural history artist, and landscape painter Edward Lear (1812–1888), focusing on all those aspects of his career (though his nonsense verse is perhaps best known). He was born in London; had a happy, imaginative childhood, though epilepsy was his “Demon”; took an interest in writing and drawing, especially animals; began drawing parrots at London Zoo. And here it gets fanciful: an exchange between Lear and a macaw he is drawing (shown larger than life—and larger than Lear—in the illustrations) turns into a conversation well beyond parroting. As Hill’s text details Lear’s growing artistic success, it emphasizes his chafing against the constraints of English society, his kinship with children, and his imagination. The illustrations begin in a muted palette but brighten as Lear embraces nonsense. For two spreads, the book mimics comic conventions while Lear tells children a story, with interjections from the youngsters filling some of the speech balloons. A “foolish biography,” maybe (with seemingly invented dialogue), but a book with plenty to pore over as readers get to know a curious character—in every sense. Lear’s poem “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” opens the book; back matter includes some of Lear’s art, with information about images of his incorporated into Carlin’s illustrations; an author’s note; and a timeline.

From the September/October 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.