Twenty-five years after its first publication, Garbage Delight has been reissued with handsome new full-colour illustrations by Maryann Kovalski and 17 brand-smacking-new poems. Twenty-five of the original book’s poems, including the title one, remain. But the subtitle, Another Helping, marks this as decidedly different fare.

Garbage Delight: Another Helping is somewhat gentler than the original with a series of lighter lyrical poems replacing the fisticuffs and madcap zaniness of the original. Gone are Frank Newfeld’s illustrations and the original book’s longer poems, including the raucous “Bloody Bill.” The original’s themed poems about three lost toys have given way to wonderful homages to Mother Goose nursery rhymes. Lee nods again to Milne in his lovely “Mary Jane and the Big Snow” as he does in poems from the original including “Half Way Dressed” and “Being Five.” Young readers will find themselves treated to heaping helpings of “Mulligan Stew,” which sets like cement, grows hair on a shoe, and even helps remove unsightly tattoos! Continuing his tradition of adding new spinoffs from “Alligator Pie,” Lee has added “Alligator Song,” including Phil Balsam’s sprightly music. Old fans will find Lee as striking a wordsmith as ever; new readers are sure to become fast friends.

Maryann Kovalski’s illustrations have changed the tone of the book, too. Instead of a child narrator being at the centre of Garbage Delight, we have a series of child-like raccoons. Her playful illustrations are especially important in mirroring the whimsical tone at the heart of Another Helping, but I miss the sly subtlety of Newfeld’s illustrations. Where Kovalski shows the aftermath of a raccoon rampage through garbage cans to accompany the title poem, Newfeld had a Wild Thing-like creature in front of a table filled with goodies. Don’t miss the poems drifting through the night sky on the end papers, including one of my favourites, “Periwinkle Pizza.” Garbage Delight: Another Helping is certainly a must for school and library collections, but hold on to the original, too – it’s now a classic.