Dennis Lee

"You can almost hear the skipping rope slapping the sidewalk,” wrote Margaret Laurence of Dennis Lee’s timeless poetry collection Alligator Pie. One of the first illustrated books published about Canadian children and featuring Canadian place names, Alligator Pie established Dennis Lee’s reputation as “Canada’s Father Goose” and has sol …

Body Music reveals the remarkable depth and range of Dennis Lee as a poet and thinker.

In eleven ground-breaking essays, Lee explores the experience of body music: the dance of energy from which poems arise. Whether he is discussing rhythm as a form of cosmology, examining children's verse, or probing what it means to worship without belief, his ex …

Bubblegum Delicious is a brand-new book of poetry from internationally acclaimed children's author, Dennis Lee. Together with spectacular illustrations by David McPhail, the book is an important children's publishing event.

Using the rhymes and rhythms of ball bounces and schoolyard and street rhymes, Lee has created a breathtaking collection o …

This boisterous collection of schoolyard and street rhymes surprises the reader at every turn of the page, veering from silly, bouncy rhymes to poignant bedtime verse. The beautifully illustrated adventures of a boy, his beloved dog and a winsome collection of bugs create a satisfying visual narrative.

You’ll quack like a duck and You’ll smell l …

Civil Elegies is Dennis Lee's uncompromising exploration of citizenship, both Canadian and human. Eli Mandel has called Civil Elegies one of the most important contemporary books of poetry in our country. It was the inner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 1972.

From the best-selling author of Alligator Pie, here's another helping of Garbage Delight. A popular favouite since 1977, it's now freshly prepared for a whole new generation of readers to gobble up. All the classic poems are here. And you'll find some delicious new verses as well-served up with spectacular illustrations by Maryann Kovalski.
Garba …

From the best-selling author of Alligator Pie, here's another helping of Garbage Delight. A popular favouite since 1977, it's now freshly prepared for a whole new generation of readers to gobble up. All the classic poems are here. And you'll find some delicious new verses as well-served up with spectacular illustrations by Maryann Kovalski.
Garba …

Peppered with regional names, sing-song rhythms and a dash of wicked fun, Garbage Delight has been a staple on Canadian bookshelves for thirty-five years. Its forty-two superbly crafted poems offer a feast of silly, sassy and soothing verses for every taste, from the thundering “I Eat Kids Yum Yum!” to the more lyrical “The Coming of Teddy Be …

Young readers will fall in love all over again with Dennis Lee’s light-hearted verse, which embraces universal childhood experiences of every flavour, from digging holes to foreign lands to searching for the perfect pet. David McPhail’s gorgeous watercolour paintings capture Lee’s subtle celebration of ulticulturalism and offer a colourful fe …

The delightful collection of children's poetry as you remember it, by the author of Alligator Pie, and illustrated by Juan Wijngaard.
Originally published in 1983, Jelly Belly tickles readers--children and grown-ups alike--with a whimsical and modern mix of humour and traditional Mother Goose charm. Almost 20 years later, Jelly Belly continues t …

First-ever monographic publication on the work and practice of highly-respected Toronto painter John Brown. Contains text by David Liss and a fictionalized interview by John Bentley Mays.

After fifteen years of publishing silence, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco is back. Living in Paradise contains his best poetry from the seventies and eighties along with his first new poetry since he left the literary world to join a monastery. As Dennis Lee says in his penetrating afterword, “It’s a book we have sorely missed.” Readers will find gene …

Winner of the Canada Council Award for Children's Book Illustration

Dennis Lee has created a magical word in verse, recounting the story of Lizzy and the
very real and grownup pet Lion she keeps in her bedroom.

Riffs is the story of a passionate love affair, told in vintage Lee style - with whoops, deep chords, and headlong improvisational arcs. We hear Bach, Bo Diddley, Bird; the news is heartache and being. Celebratory, catastrophic, the poem tracks ways in which eros and our lives are made mutually accountable. Riffs is a landmark achievement from the …

Riffs is the story of a passionate love affair, told in vintage Lee style - with whoops, deep chords, and headlong improvisational arcs. We hear Bach, Bo Diddley, Bird; the news is heartache and being. Celebratory, catastrophic, the poem tracks ways in which eros and our lives are made mutually accountable. Riffs is a landmark achievement from the …

Silverly and Goodnight, Goodnighttwo of Dennis Lees finest poemsare the perfect nighttime lullabies to read or sing aloud. Guaranteed to delight even the youngest reader.

Skyscraper is a gentler read, a bedtime rumination on the days progress into night. Originally included in Alligator Pie (1974), it stands as one of Lees classic works.With their age-appropriate poems and beautiful art, each Alligator Tales edition appeals to the imagination of infants and toddlers. And with sturdy, board-book construction, complet …

Dennis Lee is one of the best-loved children's writers in Canada. In So Cool, the author of such classics as Jelly Belly and Garbage Delight offers a spellbinding collection about the trials, tribulations and unexpected joys of growing up.
Featuring 36 remarkable poems for early teen readers, So Cool is a rollicking ride down a bumpy highway. Wr …

Testament is the summation of Dennis Lee's decade-long exploration of the dilemma of contemporary existence. Incorporating and rethinking the work published in Un and Yesno, and featuring many completely new poems, this startling collection reminds us anew of the catastrophic reality we have made of our planet, while simultaneously insisting on a p …

Our latest Devil’s Whim chapbook contains nine poems by one of Canada’s most celebrated poets, Dennis Lee. The series includes a plan for the preservation of birdsong, a ballad about a problem, an exaggerated caution against exaggeration, an encounter with a longwinded storyteller in a public washroom, and the fate of an ant who tries to help a …

What happens to a wizard when nobody wants him or needs him at all?
The Cat and the Wizard tells the story of a lonely wizard and his unwanted bag of tricks. One day, in a laundromat, he meets a jet-black cat with a spiffy hat, a heart full of hospitality, and no one to share it with. Together they retire to Casa Loma, where they embark on a mag …

No one needs a wizard and his old bag of tricks—until the day he meets a black cat with a spiffy hat and a lonely heart. Together they share a magical night in Toronto’s Casa Loma castle, enjoying a candlelight feast of tuna and wine and the company of new friends. Originally published in Lee’s 1974 collection, Nicholas Knock and Other People …

Jelly Belly tickles readerschildren and grown-ups alikewith a whimsical and modern mix of humour and traditional Mother Goose charm. More than 20 years later, the poem continues to be loved by young readers in Canada and abroad.

Originally published as part of the Jelly Belly collection in 1983, The Kitty Ran Up the Tree is a perfect action poem, allowing parent and child the opportunity to employ fingers, toes, tickles, and laughter during the reading experience.

To celebrate the success of the first six Alligator Tales board books, Dennis Lee has created one new poem for the series, and completely revised an old classic to fit the new format. The books feature the rollicking, rhyming wordplay of Dennis Lee's poetry, and the bright, playful artwork of Nora Hilb.
Originally published in Bubblegum Deliciou …

Investigations into the role and importance of poetry in the culture of the mind and consciousness by some of our foremost practitioners of the art. Tim Lilburn and his interlocutors have been carrying on their "five-pointed conversation" about the relationship between poetry and philosophy for over a decade. The results of the moveable discussion …

To celebrate the success of the first six Alligator Tales board books, Dennis Lee has created one new poem for the series, and completely revised an old classic to fit the new format. The books feature the rollicking, rhyming wordplay of Dennis Lee's poetry, and the bright, playful artwork of Nora Hilb.
With their age-appropriate poems and beaut …

It is hard to think of another book like Un. Reading it is like bouncing on a moral, intellectual, and linguistic trampoline.This astonishing sequence begins with a countdown that takes us not to zero, but to un. Lee is surveying the catastrophic new reality we have made of our planet. But pushing way past the mimetic, he plunges into language itse …

For the first time ever, even the youngest reader will be able to enjoy Willoughby Wallaby Woothe rib-tickling poem now available in the board-book format.

A stunning collection of poetry by one of our most beloved and renowned poets, Yesno is a companion volume to the much-praised Un (Anansi, 2003), and continues Dennis Lee's urgent poetic project, which is to grapple with the question of the earth's and humankind's future. But where the earlier book concentrated on the deadly impasse to which we hum …