Poems I Wrote When No One Was Looking

July 18, 2011
Accompanied by Koren's impish, characteristically furry caricatures, Katz's comedic poems take aim at familiar experiences like family squabbling and avoiding homework, while offering child-centric observations about the world. In one, the speaker laments a sibling's painful violin playing: "She screeches and she scratches,/ and I know she's really trying./ Not sure if this is Clair de Lune,/ or outside, a cat's dying." Kids will revel in the gently wicked jokes ("Do not click!/ And do not clunk!/ I'm onomatopoeiaing") and mild gross-out gags ("Dad has a big nose./ Mom has a big nose..../ Mom or Dad's nose?/ I wouldn't pick either") that run throughout the collection. Ages 7â10.

November 1, 2011

Gr 3-5-As they did in Oops! (S & S, 2008), Katz and Koren once again craft a giggle-inducing collection of 100 humorous poems. Koren's cross-hatched cartoons feature long-nosed, wild-haired figures that match the playful goings-on in poems like "Fridge-a-Dare," "It Embarrasses Me, A Latte," and "Using My Noodle." Many selections feature wordplay, as in "Come for a Spell," which gets mileage from the difficulties in spelling Cincinnati, or "Not-So-Special K," with its plea to drop the silent "k." Many play on bodily functions, such as "Pleasant Dreams, Unpleasant Streams": "When I change the baby, /I stand there and I pray/that he lets me do it quickly/and he doesn't start to spray." This collection should prove popular with readers who've enjoyed the work of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, and Douglas Florian.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2010
Grades 2-5 The creators of Oops! (2008) offer another poetry collection for grade-schoolers and their families to read aloud. Filled with puns and rhymes, the verse blends the silly and the gross: Moms or Dads nose / I wouldnt pick either. New Yorker cartoonist Korens large, black-and-white ink drawings are mischievous and immediate and extend the wordplay through the exaggerated body language of kids, surrounded by their families and pets. There are some wry contemporary references: Dad has a great GPS that helps the family maneuver through highways and intersections to the mall, but in the parking lot after shopping, the family gets lost trying to remember where the car is. The physicality of a young childs experience is a recurring theme (The lint in my brothers navel . . . the wax in my brothers ears), and it works perfectly with the wordplay (Lend me everything but your ear). Then there is the kid bored at the ballet: Its tutu much . . . prancing around in their undies . . . I couldnt hear a word.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)