THE PORTMANTEAU BOOK

by Thomas Rockwell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 1974

I like the Portmanteau Book because. . .I hit Edward Watkins in the stomach with it and he threw up all over the lawn."" Probably no one over twelve can really get a good yuck out of this testimonial -- or, for that matter, appreciate the subversive, sub-scatological humor of a story called ""Toiletpaper"" (there's a sequel"" ""Underwear"") or of recipes for ""boiled kvetch"" and ""infested spinach."" But Rockwell (remember ""How to Eat Fried Worms"") doesn't intend to please grownups; in fact, his readiness to offend them is the basis of his appeal. Yet we still have to admit that there's a lot of really good stuff here: sample the Sgt. Buck Slasher Comic or the more conventionally acceptable ""Great Duck Rescue"" and the poems ""Stilton Cheese and Silence"" and ""How the Pronouns Fell Out while The Nouns The Nouns Were Away."" Rockwell is something different -- maybe a little of Carl Sandburg and Alfred E. Neuman mixed together. Here's a book that advertises itself as better than fried eggplant, and even the index is funny. . . Rise to the occasion.

Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION