WING NUTS

In their first collaboration, two of the big kahunas of children’s poetry deliver 23 senryu poems. Like the haiku, the senryu consists of 17 syllables, but traditionally focuses on the human world rather than the natural. Here, the intent is decidedly lighthearted, as the unattributed poems vie with each other for punny supremacy. To wit: “High school band minus / its tuba player—looking / for a substi-toot!” and “Irksome mosquito, / kindly sing your evening song / in my brother’s ear.” Tusa’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations agreeably ratchet up the silliness, as a boy with a ball encounters an assortment of animals, veggies and people—some with very big hair—as they cavort on roller coasters, in vehicles shaped like—er, geese, and on the rim of a giant teacup. Plenty of fun, with nary a screw-up. (Poetry. 5-10)