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RUNNY BABBIT RETURNS

Name: RUNNY BABBIT RETURNS
Author: Shel Silverstein
ISBN: 978-0-06-247939-6

ANOTHER BILLY SOOK

by Shel Silverstein ; illustrated by Shel Silverstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2017

Cead with rare and lave a good haugh; there can’t be too many more like these.

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Twelve years later, a return to the ween groods for more vunny ferses.

Runny Babbit and his spooneristic woodland friends are back in 41 new silly, short poems full of nonsense and linguistic play. This volume starts off with the same explanatory poem as Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook (2005): “Way down in the green woods / Where the animals all play, / They do things and say things / In a different sort of way— / Instead of sayin’ ‘purple hat,’ / They all say ‘hurple pat.’ ” Runny “Snoes Gorkeling” and loses his “trimming swunks.” He rides a “coller roaster” at the “founty cair” and loses his lunch. He meets Santa Claus and an evil witch —er, “wevil itch.” He eats soup, celebrates his birthday, and finds a dinosaur egg. Each poem is accompanied by one of Silverstein’s scratchy line drawings, each matching perfectly. In many of the drawings, the denizens of the green woods speak in their own spoonerisms. Though these poems did not make the first collection, which Silverstein had been working on for years before his death, they do not feel second-rate. They echo all that readers loved and all that made them laugh in Uncle Shelby’s work.

Cead with rare and lave a good haugh; there can’t be too many more like these. (Poetry. 6-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-06-247939-6

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERY THING ON IT
by Shel Silverstein & illustrated by Shel Silverstein

- BOOK REVIEW
RUNNY BABBIT
by Shel Silverstein & illustrated by Shel Silverstein

- BOOK REVIEW
FALLING UP
by Shel Silverstein & illustrated by Shel Silverstein

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SCRANIMALS

by Jack Prelutsky & illustrated by Peter Sís ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

Prolific they may be, but poet and illustrator have never done better work than this hilarious, inventive cousin to Edward...

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Sís’s hallucinogenic art takes Prelutsky’s ever-clever comic verses in new directions in this topflight returning superstar collaboration (The Gargoyle on the Roof, 1999, etc.).

A pair of young tourists accepts the poet’s invitation to visit Scranimal Island, uncharted home to such hybrid curiosities as leafy Spinachickens, blobby Hippopotamushrooms, a pride of Broccolions, and the sedentary Potatoad: “It does not move, it does not think, / It does not eat, it does not drink, / It does not hear or taste or touch . . . / The POTATOAD does not do much / . . . To pose immobile by a road / Suffices for the POTATOAD.” Using pale tones overall, but adding flashes of brighter color, Sís depicts the 19 vegemals (anitables? flauna?) and their surroundings in typically obsessive detail; he also creates an aerial view of the entire island that rewards careful examination, and tiny bits of background business for sharp-eyed viewers to spot.

Prolific they may be, but poet and illustrator have never done better work than this hilarious, inventive cousin to Edward Lear’s nonsense botany and zoology. (Poetry. 7-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-688-17819-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
HARD-BOILED BUGS FOR BREAKFAST
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Ruth Chan

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SILVER MOON
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Jui Ishida

- BOOK REVIEW
STARDINES SWIM HIGH ACROSS THE SKY
by Jack Prelutsky ; illustrated by Carin Berger

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THUNDER ON THE PLAINS

THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN BUFFALO

by Ken Robbins & illustrated by Ken Robbins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

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“In 1875 there were perhaps fifty million of them. Just twenty-five years later nearly every one of them was gone.” The author of many nonfiction books for young people (Bridges; Truck; Giants of the Highways, etc.) tells the story of the American bison, from prehistory, when Bison latifrons walked North America along with the dinosaurs, to the recent past when the Sioux and other plains Indians hunted the familiar bison. Robbins uses historic photographs, etchings, and paintings to show their sad history. To the Native Americans of the plains, the buffalo was central to their way of life. Arriving Europeans, however, hunted for sport, slaughtering thousands for their hides, or to clear the land for the railroad, or farmers. One telling photo shows a man atop a mountain of buffalo skulls. At the very last moment, enough individuals “came to their senses,” and worked to protect the remaining few. Thanks to their efforts, this animal is no longer endangered, but the author sounds a somber note as he concludes: “the millions are gone, and they will never come back.” A familiar story, well-told, and enhanced by the many well-chosen period photographs. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-12)