Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant

Starred review from August 28, 2006
Berger's (Not So True Stories & Unreasonable Rhymes
) inventive, textured collages add up to a visual treat in this first-rate collection of Prelutsky poems. Readers will behold not only the bold umbrellaphant, whose trunk is literally an umbrella, but also more than a dozen other amusing creatures who (similar to the hybrid mythical beasts of Prelutsky's Scranimals
) are a cross between an actual animal and an inanimate object, and exhibit combined traits of both. "The Solitary Spatuloon," its body shaped like a black spatula with wings, cries "Syrup!" plaintively, flipping pancakes with its tail. ("Its tail, we note, is well designed/ With this peculiar task in mind.") Especially clever are "The Tearful Zipperpotamuses," whose bodies are zippers that keep unzipping, "So they worry and they fret/ That their insides will fall outside,/ Though this hasn't happened yet." The clever rhymes do not miss a beat, and Berger's collages brim with both unusual visual humor and irony. She pictures the Clocktopus ("Its tentacles in tempo/ With the clock upon its face") with as many clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches as it has appendages, none of them synchronized; and "The Ballpoint Penguins" swoop like ice skaters on lined pages used for cursive writing exercises—the critters "do little else but write and write./ Although they've nothing much to say,/ They write and write it anyway." Young readers will behold a wonderful, fantastically silly book. Ages 4-up.

The first Children's Poet Laureate for the United States reads and sings from three of his poetry collections. Selections combine animals, objects, and living things into unique beings. Beware a "radishark" if you are swimming or let a "ballpoint penguin" help you take notes. "What a Day It Was at School" provides a look at school from the students' point of view in adept Prelutsky fashion. It's a treat to hear the poet recite his own work. While it's well known that many of Prelutsky's poems can be set to the music of familiar tunes, the tunes for these poems are original and underscore the pleasure Prelutsky takes in performing his own work. The images--from "pop-up toadsters" to "solitary spatuloons"--linger in the listener's ear. A.R. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2007
Gr 2-6-Jack Prelutsky brings his collection of poetry to life in this recording. The real treat, though, is Prelutsky simply but dramatically singing his words, in addition to reading the text. The premise of the verse lies in combining an animal and an inanimate object. "What do you get when you cross a toaster with a toad? A tuba with a baboon? A clock with an octopus? A hat with a chicken? An umbrella with an elephant? Why]A pop-up toadster, a tubaboon, the clockopus, a hatchicken and the bold umbrellaphant." Kids will appreciate the raw silliness of the verse, as well as the exercise in imagination required to envision such characters. In addition to the verse from the title book (Greenwillow, 2006), Prelutsky also reads from two other similar titles, "What a Day It Was in School!" (Greenwillow, 2006) and "Scranimals" (Greenwillow, 2002). Be sure to have the title book available so that listeners can also look at Carrie Berger's photo cut-paper collage illustrations that are a visual treat. Teachers may want to use this title as a springboard for their classes' own inventions. Perfect for leisure listening as well as poetry and word study units."Kirsten Martindale, formerly Menomonie Public Library, WI"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.