Dennis Lee

Three classic Dennis Lee titles in one beautiful book This giftable and shareable volume brings together three of Dennis Lee's best-loved collections of poetry--Alligator Pie, Jelly Belly and The Ice Cream Store--spanning three decades of his warm and whimsical rhymes. "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 published illustrated books about Canadian children, and featuring Frank Newfeld's instantly recognizable original illustrations, Alligator Pie has sold more than half a million copies since its publication in 1974. Originally published in 1983, Jelly Belly tickles readers with a mix of humour and traditional Mother Goose charm. The vivid illustrations by Juan Wijngaard (winner of the 1981 Mother Goose Award) reveal wonders as readers follow the characters throughout the book and stumble upon new and fascinating visual treasures. In the kid-pleasing collection The Ice Cream Store, originally published in 1991, Dennis Lee delves into the special and imaginative world of children. David McPhail's gorgeous and appealing watercolour paintings of children and animals portray both the familiar and the fantastic, extending the meaning of the poems and providing a colourful feast for the eye.

Ultima Thule has been destroyed—but somehow the Thulians mounted an even bigger force to destroy Metis. TheMetisians that escaped the carnage and destruction of their secret city now must somehow find somewhere safe to go—without getting snapped up by various world governments. And now the Thulians have changed their tactics to “blitz guerilla warfar,” sending wave after wave of their ships and troops to attack vulnerable targets all over Earth, with no clue for ECHO as to where these things are coming from. John Murdock and The Seraphym have become a force of nature, but they can’t be everywhere at once, and if they were regarded with suspicion before, now they are regarded by ECHO’s allies with fear as well.You could say “things can’t get worse.”You would be wrong.Red Djinni’s past is about to catch up with him.So is Victoria Victrix’s.The heroes of ECHO and CCCP have to save the world. But first, they have to save each other. And the avalanchehas begun.

A landmark collection from one of Canada’s literary icons, and the founder of House of Anansi Press, Heart Residence collects for the first time work from all corners of Dennis Lee’s extraordinary career.This book is an exhilarating revelation. No other poet in Canada has the depth and range of Dennis Lee — jazzman, jester, and metaphysician, hardball political thinker and passionate lover, he has been publishing poems for fifty years. His first book, Kingdom of Absence, published in 1967, was the founding publication of House of Anansi Press. Since then Lee has produced work across the poetic spectrum, from nursery rhymes and skipping songs to uncompromising moral introspection to full-tilt love songs, plangent psalms, and ecstatic, solitary prayer.There are poets’ poets and people’s poets. And then there are those few who are neither and both: the few who become, over time, part of the warp and weft of their culture. Heart Residence collects, for the first time, work from all corners of this extraordinary career. In its verve and variety, this is a one-of-a-kind collection.

"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 sold more than half a million copies since its publication in 1974.This classic edition, featuring Frank Newfeld's instantly recognizable original illustrations and book design, includes childhood favorites such as "Willoughby Wallaby Woo," "Wiggle to the Laundromat," and "Skyscraper."

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 winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry in 1972. This edition features a new introduction by noted academic Nick Mount, who places this important collection in the context of Canadian literature and Lee’s career.

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 particular kind of hope for our future. Testament continues Lee’s radical and inventive use of language, shaping the familiar into the shockingly new. It is a landmark achievement, and a fitting end to one of the most ambitious projects in Canadian poetry.