Grasshopper Pie and Other Poems

October 1, 2004
K-Gr 3 -Although the rhythm is sometimes slightly off, the content of these poems is right on target for beginning readers, hitting the funny bones of young children. Rat has 18 poems based on school experiences-the cafeteria, homework, class picture, and the like. Grasshopper Pie consists of five silly poems including one that tells the perils of being near a sneezing elephant. The rhyming words will help emerging readers in decoding, as will the colorful illustrations. Children may need help with words such as "frightening," "photographer," and "caught," but on the whole they will be able to master the books and share them with their classmates. Fun additions to easy-reader collections.-Anne Knickerbocker, formerly at Cedar Brook Elementary School, Houston, TX

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2004
K-Gr. 2. The five rhymes in this All Aboard Poetry Reader each tell a nonsense story that takes off from daily life. Several are about food. As a boy slurps his noodles, an alien lands in his chicken soup ("He was goopy and green and not too tall. / His spaceship looked like a matzo ball"). Then there's the legendary kid who does everything upside down (he eats with his toes and runs bases on his hands) and is celebrated for it. The sounds of the thumping rhymes help make reading easy, and the big, colorful cartoon-style pictures extend the silliness with everything from that delicious soup bowl to the wild animals that skedaddle from a sneezing elephant on the savanna.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2005
Five poems describe the making of grasshopper pie, a boy who does everything upside down, a sneezing elephant, a monster, and an alien who lands in a bowl of chicken soup. Although the poems are not distinguished, they are funny and dont talk down to children, making the collection useful for getting beginning readers interested in poetry. Pop-eyed cartoon illustrations extend the poems tone.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)