Clever, fun poems that teach young readers about puns and idioms.
From Fleishman (If the Earth Is Round, 2017, etc.), a stimulating volume of poetry for children interested in wordplay.
At the start of this book of 25 poems, Fleishman informs readers that he loves puns and idioms, and he isn’t kidding. In “Rodeo Rick,” a lapsed cowboy gets “back in the saddle again.” In “Lottery Ticket,” a man’s ticket and hopes simultaneously go “down the drain.” In a tug of war between steaks and fish on a grill, “Captain Steak tells his team, ‘Yes, we did it! We won! / I am proud of you steaks. This was very well done!’ ” In “Potato Chip War,” a 12-year-old bemoans the fact that he has to clean up a mess his 6-year-old brother made: “He looks annoyed / With that chip on his shoulder.” Thankfully, not every poem ends with a pun or an idiom. Fleishman’s anecdotes often focus on professional people involved in conundrums, such as “Check, Pretty Please?” where an exhausted waiter discreetly encourages two kings to finish up their meal: “After thinking of ways he can drop subtle hints / He brings out a small tray filled with end-of-meal mints / The two kings thank the waiter, continue to chat / They did not get his hint…oh well, so much for that!” Some poems, like “Dictionary,” evoke Shel Silverstein with their stubbornly determined characters hungry for knowledge: “This dictionary’s fun to read. I will not take a break. / I should be done by 10 PM if I can stay awake.” Fleishman defines homonyms, puns, and idioms in the appendix. He primarily alternates between rhyming couplets and quatrains, providing a steady and consistent rhythm throughout. At times, his noun and verb choices become redundant: “As they sit at a bar by the edge of a pool / Two enormous weightlifters each sit on a stool (emphasis added).” Illustrations by White—which vary in style from clip-art–esque to cartoonish to shades of Beavis and Butt-Head—may keep kids engaged if they get wordplay overload.
Clever, fun poems that teach young readers about puns and idioms.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 55
Publisher: Mindstir Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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