Hey, You! Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and other Fun Things

HEY, YOU! POEMS TO SKYSCRAPERS, MOSQUITOES, AND OTHER FUN THINGS; Selected by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrated by Robert Rayevsky; New York: HarperCollins, 2007, 40 pgs. Poetry

Paul Janeczko is a genius in the eclectic poetry for children division--in fact, probably the genius. In this latest book he collects poems addressed to animals and objects. Joan Bransfield Graham talks to her sneakers, ". . . tails/ flaring, you seem/ ready to blaze into/ the day . . . ." Russell Hoban expresses his disgust directly to the soft-boiled egg whose "many ways" he does not like, and Penny Harter and Kristine George talk to a buffalo and a bison, respectively, "shaggy, with a very bad/ upholstery job." The poems, as they would be, are a mixed bag, some splendid, some not so much. But what a great place for kids to start, seeing things in new ways!

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