cover image Cat and the Cuckoo

Cat and the Cuckoo

Ted Hughes. Roaring Brook Press, $15.95 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-7613-1548-3

A small-sized volume of verse, The Cat and the Cuckoo (1987) features poems about wild and domestic farm animals by renowned British poet Ted Hughes, illus. by Flora McDonnell. These quirky poems range from a lightly witty view of a sleeping dog: ""He's just a sack of snoring dog./ You can lug him like a log""-to the serious metaphysical meditations of a crow: ""Hear ye the Preacher:/ Nature to Nature/ Returns each creature."" McDonnell's vivacious duotone art depicts each animal with a folksy whimsy.