Janeczko (A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, p. 411, etc.) advocates using poetry in the classroom daily, and teachers who are introducing the concept of point of view will find some unique ways to get the point across through these poems. The poets represented here can hear anthropomorphic voices in some pretty odd places: curtains, a snowflake, a crayon, and the source of the title—a pile of dirty laundry. Other poems give voice to animals, trees, kites, the winter wind, and three machines that relate to the dirty laundry: a washing machine, a broom, and a vacuum cleaner. Well-known poets such as Karla Kuskin, Lilian Moore, Jane Yolen, Douglas Florian, and Bobbi Katz are represented, along with less familiar poets. Sweet’s watercolor illustrations help bring each poem to life with dancing brooms, a menacing vacuum cleaner, and a poignant horse waiting for a blanket and a carrot. Younger children will enjoy the poems simply as funny or touching poetry, but older students will begin to see the poetic possibilities in the unexplored voices of the inanimate. Janeczko has a wide following through his own poetry collections, anthologies, and books on writing poetry, so this collection should find a ready audience, especially in school libraries. (Poetry. 7-11)
Pub Date: June 30, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16251-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
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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