In 25 new observations, catalogs, and stray thoughts, all as sweet and chewy as the six previous servings, Stevenson (Corn-Fed, 2002, etc.) invites readers to contemplate how a long, practically unused pencil came to have such a flat eraser or to guess what’s in the oversized backpacks lugged by a spread full of schoolchildren (a pumpkin? 200 trading cards? the family dog?). In other places they can compare the behavior of an active baby elephant with a more sedentary baby panda and regard pages of doorknobs and paint cans. He tucks in a rare self-portrait, too—next to a gigantic jar that represents all the peanut butter he’s eaten in his life. His poetry is as pithy and casual as his sketchy, masterful illustrations; opposite a page of various glues, pieces of string, and other fasteners, he writes, “When you think / everything is / falling apart, / look / how many ways / there are / to hold things / together.” Studying two pages of drugstore shelves, he says, “When I go to the drugstore and see how many ailments there are, I am grateful to be alive.” Readers will be grateful he is, too. (Poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-053059-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-525-47172-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004
A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-58925-044-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
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