The Mermaid's Purse: Poems by Ted Hughes

By Ted Hughes

Book Overview

In The Mermaid's Purse, Ted Hughes explores the ocean. From starfish and seagulls to mermaids and monsters, 28 poems capture the beauty, drama, and mystery of the sea and the seashore. Here is the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375805699
• ISBN13: 9780375805691
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Little Purse of Wonder

Ted Hughes has the ability to make the natural world jump at you, alive, off the page. Nowhere is this more evident than in this wonderful cornucopia of sea poems beautifully illustrated by Flora Mcdonnell. There is literally the zing of sea salt from the moment you open the book. For a person, like myself, who does not live by the sea, it is a tribute to Hughes' power that I felt a whole new world opening in my eyes . This apparent throughout the book, each poem delving deeper and deeper into the mystery of the ocean. At no time does the book become sentimental. Hughes' characteristic truth when it comes to nature is apparent throughout the book. He treats his subjects with the respect they deserve and in doing so creates a whoolly entertaining yet realistic portrayal of the sea. A favorite of mine which illustrates this is a short little poem concerning a mussel, in which Hughes likens it to a torn heart. By turns descriptive and playful, he turns it into a beautiful poem concerning a creature of the sea which would not usually garner such poetic attention. This, as such, is the strength of the book. It has an unerring ability to make the ordinary into something exraordinay ensuring that a walk by the ocean (for children and adults alike) will never be the same again.