Poetry - Outside the Box: A Book of Poems by Karma Wilson

Illustrated by Diane Goode

2014 Margaret K. McElderry Books

HC $17.99

172 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.85 - 221 ratings

My rating:  4.5 

My comments:  In this homage to Shel Silverstein, funny, clever, rhythmic poems (including poems with no flabby rhyming) are not only dedicated to the great children's poet, but they even look and sound somewhat like his creations.  Such fun!  A few follow...

Goodreads: This laugh-out-loud poetry collaboration from a New York Timesand Publishers Weekly bestselling author and a Caldecott Honor illustrator is anything but ordinary.
          Dive in to Karma Wilson's latest collection of more than 100 poems: some humorous, some poignant, and all of them Outside the Box. Illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Diane Goode, Outside the Box has something for everyone. Appealing to kids and parents alike, poems such as Sick Day, My Pet Robot, Balloonaphobia, and Aliens Under My Bed are sure to delight and entertain.

Bubble Trouble

I bought myself two packs of gum.

I chewed and chewed some more.

I blew a bubble round a fat,

and bigger than ever before!

I blew and it grew

and grew

and grew

and grew!

None of my friends could believe it.

The biggest bubble ever blown,

and I was the kid to achieve it!

I kept on blowing, it kept on growing.

When would it ever stop?

It all seemed like such an awesome plan

till my sister made it

POP!

Man in the Moon

When you look at the face

of the Man in the Moon,

what kind of face do you see?

Is it aged and wise, sad, surprised,

or happy and beaming with glee?

Is it angry and stern, full of concern,

wistful, or filled with delight?

What mood do you see

in the face that shines down

and kisses the darkness with light?

A Lump of Clay

It’s just a lump of clay,

that’s it.

But pick it up

and squeeze a bit.

Now roll it, pat it,

poke it, too.

Pinch the clay

a time or two.

With imagination

and elbow grease,

you’ll create

a masterpiece

Pound it down

to a lump, and then

pick it up and

start again.

Shades of Gray

The shadows of trees, the clouds in the sky.

The wings of a wren as she flutter on by.

The face of the moon as he watches the night,

not quite black, but not quite white.

The hue of the world

when the sun slips away.

Beautiful shades of gray.

Moose on the Bus

There’s a moose on the bus,

and he caused quite a fuss

when he clambered aboard, big and brown.

We screamed for police

to restore general peace,

but they weren’t anywhere to be found.

The moose thought awhile,

then strolled down the aisle

and sat in the seat next to me.

He is kind, more or less,

and I have to confess,

he makes for polite company.

But one thing I’ve found

while the bus drives around

and I sit with a moose at my side,

He’s friendly and all,

but he’s really quite tall,

and his antlers are rater too wide.-

POETRY BOOK - What are you Glad about? What are you Mad about? by Judith Viorst

Poems for When a Person Needs a Poem
Illustrated by Lee White

2016, Atheneum Books for Young REaders

HC $17.99

102 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.83 (43 ratings)

My rating: 2

EndpapersL Solid Rust 

My comments:  I feel so badly not really liking a book of Judith Viorst's poetry!  I loved If I Were in Charge of the World, have read it over and over and shared poems with lots and lots of kids.  But after reading through these poems once I felt pretty "blah" about them, so I read them through again today.  I still feel blah about them....some seemed forced, some I found really hard to find any rhythm, words were put in odd sequences in order to fit some sort of rhyming pattern, and some of the thoughts and thinking don't seem to gel with the thoughts and thinking of the kids I've worked with for the last ten years or just made me roll my eyes.  I didn't give it a 1...I'll give Ms. Viorst the benefit of the doubt because she's always been high on my list...but I'm not keen on these poems at all.  And I feel really, really bad about that!

Goodreads:

I liked this poem a bit, the last one in the book, but even some of it (cadence, wording, rhythm) didn't do it for me::

In Between

Too old to need a night-light and
Too young to drive a car.
Too young for War and Peace, too old
For Where the Wild Things Are.
Too young to drink a latte and
Too old for sippy cups.
I'm in between and sometimes
I can't tell the downs from ups.

Too old to cry at flu shots and
Too young for a tattoo.
Too young for movies rated R.
Too old for Scooby-Doo.
Too old for booster seats, too young
For my own credit card.
I'm in between and often
In between is very hard.

Too young to give up whining and
Too old to run amok.
Too young for Don Giovanni and
Too old for Donald Duck.
Too old to keep my teddy bear,
Too young to let him go.
I'm in between and waiting
For the rest of me to grow.

Astronaut Stopping By a Planet on a Snowy Evening - Jon Sciezska

Astronaut Stopping By a Planet

      on a Snowy Evening

Which world this is I do not know.

It’s in our solar system though.

I’m thinking that it may be Mars,

Because it has that reddish glow.

But you know it could be Venus.

And if that’s true, then just between us,

It might be wise to leave before

Any locals might have seen us.

Could be Pluto.  Might be Neptune.

Don’t they both have more than one moon?

I’m running out of oxygen

I’d better figure this out soon.

Yes, space is lovely, dark and deep.

For one mistake I now do weep:

In science class I was asleep.

In science class I was asleep

                        ~Jon Sciezska

The Snack Smasher - Andrea Perry

POETRY
Illustrated aby Alan Snow
Atheneum Bks for Young Readers
2007
Rating: 3
Endpapers: Front: Green watercolor wash with tractor
Back: Splashes of aqua and fuschia with footprints

A variety of "vile villains, ruthless roughnecks, scoundrels, scalawags and dastardly deed doers" are described in the 13 poems in this book including people like snack smashers, wicked waitresses, ink drinkers, and snake knotters. Here are a couple:

The Scary-Hair Fairy (MUST use this near SCHOOL PHOTO DAY)

‘Twas the night before pictures – those taken at school –
when kids want their hair to look stylish and cool.

The students were nestled in bed unaware
of what was about to become of their hair.

When up on the dresser top, who should appear,
but that messer of tresses photographers fear.

The Scary-Hair Fairy! That rascally knave!
That scoundrel whose magic makes hair misbehave.

More rapid than spritzing, he’ll straighten your curls.
He’ll give you six cowlicks and bangs all awhirl.

With a twist of his comb and mysterious gel,
you’re helplessly under his hair-raising spell.

He’ll tangle your ringlets. He’ll snarl and he’ll knot
and stiffen and crimp all your hair so it’s taut.

And then he’ll be off spreading split ends and frizz
to the next unsuspecting young Mister and Ms.

Yet as he’s departing, his warning is clear.
He snickers with such a cold scalawag sneer.

“Tomorrow will bring you the bleak prospect of
a school picture only a mother could love!”

Snorist

That sound you can hear?
At night in the dark?
That isn’t a sneeze, or a burp, or a bark?

It’s loud and alarming?
It keeps you awake?
And causes your bed and your dresser to shake?

That sound is the Snorist.
It means that he chose
to sneak with his tuba inside your dad’s nose.

He won’t ever leave
or stop making noise
since being annoying is what he enjoys.

He’s rude and uncouth,
a bothersome creep,
who wants to make sure no one gets any sleep.

He’ll play on for hours –
six, seven, or more –
each song getting louder and worse than before.

There might be a lull,
but don’t rest too soon…
the Snorist has merely switched to his bassoon!