REBUS RIOT

Rolling-on-the-floor laughter is sure to accompany this collection of wickedly funny rebus poems. Readers meet Crazy Daisy, learn how to train a pet monster, receive a valentine, and read about dustbunnies in poetry with bottomless kid-appeal. Puns and wordplay abound, written with rebus-style picture clues that beg readers to interpret their meaning. Anyone fascinated by the deciphering of a secret code will eagerly use answer keys to help solve the puzzles, and full-text solutions are provided at the back of the book. Christensen's rebus images are cleverly grouped into thematic units in which foods, household items, or transportation images are matched with individual poems, e.g., ""Birdie Boogie"" features rebus pictures of birds--a toucan, parrot, mynah, swift, puffin, and a pair of loons--for these lines: ""[Toucan] dance the rumba fine"" and ""they [puffin] pant and lie about."" Exuberant watercolor on scratchboard illustrations are a free-spirited fandango of pantomime and play.