Enjoy The Owl and the PussyCat by Edward Lear! 🙂

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
    In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
    Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
    And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
    What a beautiful Pussy you are,
              You are,
              You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

II

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
    How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
    But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
    To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
    With a ring at the end of his nose,
              His nose,
              His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
    Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
    By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
    Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
    They danced by the light of the moon,
              The moon,
              The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

—Edward Lear

1952 Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear Excerpt

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear—Readalouds

The Owl and the Pussycat Music

Another Great Early Reader…

When little Song receives a last-minute invitation to a midnight ball, she leaves immediately, hoping to arrive on time to the castle. But her journey is long, and she meets many friendly animals on the way. They enjoy fields and forests, sunlight and moonlight, and quiet moments of wonder. In a beautiful story of new friends and sweet generosity, little Song takes readers on a time-telling adventure from noon to midnight.

An antique timepiece on each page shows the changing hours and minutes. Children learn analog, digital, and text versions of time from noon to midnight. They also learn sequencing, through the movement from noon to afternoon to evening to night. Sequencing is a major concept necessary for building deeper math skills.

Predictable text plus alliteration in key portions of the tale make this a seamless “learning” bedtime story or classroom read aloud—the story can also serve as an early reader that a child can grow with to build literacy skills.

More for Children

Llamas in Pajamas (and 10 Great Children’s Books)
Teaching Poetry to Children
Poetry With Children: What’s in Your Journal?

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Will Willingham

Director of Many Things; Senior Editor, Designer and Illustrator at Tweetspeak Poetry

I used to be a claims adjuster, helping people and insurance companies make sense of loss. Now, I train other folks with ladders and tape measures to go and do likewise. Sometimes, when I’m not scaling small buildings or crunching numbers with my bare hands, I read Keats upside down. My first novel is Adjustments.

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