So, does wearing one’s hat backwards bring good luck or bad? What, if anything, do itchy ears, or a broken mirror, portend? In 17 short poems, alphabetically arranged, Wong ruminates lightheartedly on superstitions both common and less well-known, from that ominous black cat or the supposed effects of garlic—“All you bloodsuckers / this is your last chance: / I am one bite / away— / from a hunk / of Mother’s famous garlic chunk chicken”—to the spirits that purportedly dwell in trees and umbrellas. Paschkis frames each poem, and a playful, stylized illustration opposite, with swirling monochrome borders made of mirror-image motifs; the effect is both eye-filling and a touch mystical. Wong gets into the spirit of things by slipping in a newly minted superstition—“Stand bareheaded in the rain / to cure a baldness of the brain”—then closing with a spread of tongue-in-cheek commentary and a personal source note. Poet and illustrator both capture just the right tone to keep young readers from taking the topic too seriously—knock on wood. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85512-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
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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