World Rat Day: Poems About Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of

World Rat Day: Poems about Real Holidays You've Never Heard Of
by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Anna Raff
Candlestick, 2013. 36 pgs. Poetry

J. Patrick Lewis will quickly be forgiven the dangling participle of his subtitle in the delight of his poetry. Beginning with January 2, Cats Day (Happy Mew Year!), Lewis works his way through a year full of oddities: Dragon Appreciation Day (January 16), Bulldogs are Beautiful Day ("A perfectly lovely/Excuse for a pet/A face you remember/ To never forget"), International Cephalopod Awareness Day (October 8), and, of course, World Rat Day (April 4). Anna Raff's rats, with personality to burn, appear on most every page with very funny pictures and poems about the kid who can't make it to school on National Hippo Day because something very large is sitting on him, or Mule Day when if you decide to name your mule Jack, you should probably not mention his last name. Truly ingenious rhymes and charming pictures make this a book perfect as a read-aloud for little kids, or a read-alone for their older siblings.

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