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  • Published: 18 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9780141368092
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $24.99

The Nonsense Show




A brilliantly hilarious, surreal new picture book from the bestselling author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ducks growing out of bananas?
A mouse catching a cat?
What's wrong with this book?
Yes, there's something strange, something funny and even downright preposterous on every page of this book (and even the cover!). But it's not a mistake - it's nonsense! And it's also surrealism. Nonsense lies at the heart of many beloved nursery rhymes. Children readily accept odd statements like "the cow jumped over the moon" and "the dish ran away with the spoon." This fanciful bending of reality is also basic to surrealism.

In this book, nonsense and surrealism combine to spark creativity and imagination. What's true? What's impossible? What's absolutely absurd? From Eric Carle, creator of the classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, comes a book to make children laugh and think, preparing them for a lifetime of loving both words and art.

  • Published: 18 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9780141368092
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 40
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Eric Carle

Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has been translated into 70 languages and sold over 55 million copies. Carle illustrated more than seventy books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote, and more than 170 million copies of his books have sold around the world. In 2003, Carle received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award) for lifetime achievement in children's literature. In 2002, Eric and his wife, Barbara, cofounded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (www.carlemuseum.org) in Amherst, Massachusetts, a 40,000-square-foot space dedicated to the celebration of picture books and picture book illustrations from around the world, underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form. Eric Carle passed away in May 2021 at the age of 91. His work remains an important influence on artists and illustrators at work today. www.eric-carle.com

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