Product Description

Jack Prelutsky is the undisputed master of hilarious verse for the youngest child. And Petra Mathers, has no equal when it comes to bringing anything with fur or feathers uproariously to life. Put the two of them together -and you have a modern classic.

Here are poems about people and animals, set in such far-flung places as Minot, Minneapolis, Tuscaloosa, Tucumcari, and the Grand Canyon. Impossible to read only once (and memorized by the third reading), these exuberant poems and irresistible pictures will be loved by children from Miami to Seattle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #855020 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Released on: 2002-02-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Amazon.com Review
Playful poet Jack Prelutsky and the beloved Petra Mathers (Lottie's New Beach Towel) take youngsters from the heart of South Dakota to Monterey Bay in this extraordinary collection of poems and paintings that belongs on the shelf next to Ride a Purple Pelican and Beneath a Blue Umbrella. As ever, Prelutsky's meter is flawless, and you absolutely read his poems aloud, even if you're sitting in a room by yourself. This is not the gross-out fare that Prelutsky so delightfully dishes out in Awful Ogre's Awful Day and some of his other books. Here are 28 nonsensical, often somewhat geographical poems for preschoolers and early readers about a tiny baker who bakes a tiny cookie, a granny who lost her footing and fell into pudding, elephants who sit in trees and sneeze, and a small hen who is stuck at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. With the lightest touch, Petra Mathers adds new dimensions and quirky subplots to every poem in endearing two-pages-per-poem watercolor paintings. Young readers will adore this colorful collection of quiet surprises by two of our favorite creators of children's books. (Ages 2 to 6) --Karin Snelson

From School Library Journal
Preschool-Grade 3--The prolific poet is back with an illustrator who matches him in freshness and simplicity. The poems offer vivid glimpses of life; have a beginning, middle, and end; and have a clear underlying music and flow. The selections are for a slightly younger audience than much of Prelutsky's work: some poems are as simple as Mother Goose rhymes ("Baby in a high chair,/baby in a bib,/baby in a stroller,/baby in a crib"), while others would make great flannelboard rhymes for sharing with four- and five-year-olds ("In her garden, Sarah Small/grows galoshes, short and tall./Shirts of yellow, hats of red/beautify her flower bed"). Many of the 28 poems play with American place names, from Tuscaloosa to Tucumcari, and might enliven a geography lesson. Mathers's wonderful watercolors highlight her talents for color and expression. Her treatment of light is lovely, especially in her delicate and exquisite skies, while the comic dignity of some of her creatures, such as the frogs in red suspenders, suits Prelutsky's mood just right. A superb choice.

Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3-8. In a companion to Ride a Purple Pelican (1986) and Beneath a Blue Umbrella (1990), Prelutsky's animal nonsense rhymes for younger children range across the country, from "Peanut Peg and Peanut Pete" on a bright Atlanta street to "Seven Snails and Seven Snakes" that swam across the five Great Lakes. There are also fantasy settings, such as the garden where clothes grow and the place where 10 brown bears with big bow ties gobble plates of apple pies. The large-size book is spacious in design, great for reading aloud, and Mathers is at her best with double-page watercolors that combine farce and silliness with clear, precise characters and landscapes that range from one small hen's awe-inspiring view of the Grand Canyon to a tender close-up of an old owl in a silent forest. Prelutsky does what he says in his letter in Seeing the Blue Between (see p.1250): he makes the ordinary special. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A Total Delight for Young and Old
Shopping for a birthday present, I came across this book. I have never been big on poetry for children (don't ask why; I guess because I didn't like it as a child), and I almost didn't open this book. What a mistake that would have been.

Every single page of this wonderful, fanciful and subtly geographical collection is better than the one before. Here we have a poem that extolls the virtues of Indianapolis (one doesn't see too many Indianapolis poems!) in a ridiculous but so- sweet poem. There are elephants in trees, and frogs in suspenders, and all the other lovely ideas that children can accept and love without question.

The drawings by Petra Mathers make the book. I can't list a favorite; each one, so colorful, so fanciful, and so very endearing, compliments the poem it illustrates.

What I like best about this book, however, is that it encourages a love of the English language without ever letting the child know it is doing so. The wonderful tongue-rolling combination of words, the silly (but not really) images the words evoke, and the simple joy in every poem are tailor-made to enchant a child and encourage him or her to read more.

Highly recommended!!

Poetry for Everyone.....
What do you get when poet, Jack Prelutsky collaborates with illustrator, Petra Mathers? An unrivaled collection of twenty-eight playful, whimsical verses that take you on a delightful trip from one end of the country to the other. Visit Minot, North Dakota, Monterey Bay, the Grand Canyon, and Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kentucky, Winnemuca, and Seattle and meet charming characters, of both the people and animal persuasion. Travel with Barnaby Boone in his yellow balloon..."He drifted for days through the blue Texas skies,/feasting on hamburgers, hot dogs, and pies." Find out what happens in Tuscaloosa after dark when the farm animals gather in the park..."They danced a jig and they danced a reel,/then they all sat down to a fine hot meal/of corn and okra, dumpling stew,/at that Alabama barbecue." And meet Peanut Peg and Peanut Pete..."All day long they gaily sell/peanuts still inside the shell,/peanuts salty, peanuts sweet-/Peanut Peg and Peanut Pete." Mr Prelutsky's joyous, lilting rhymes are full of energy, humor, wordplay, and rhythm, and beg to be shared and read aloud. Ms Mather's signature bright and expressive, charming artwork is rich in engaging detail, captures each poem beautifully, and brings it to life. Together, this dynamic duo has authored an entertaining and irresistible treasure that's sure to become a classic. Perfect for kids 3 to 93, The Frog Wore Red Suspenders is a sweet little masterpiece the entire family can read and share now, and with future generations in the years to come.

"Read it again!! Read it again!!"
This is a wonderful book! My nieces would not let me put it down. They kept shouting "Read it again!". The illustrations are so nice and I love how the auther incorporates names of cities (Tusculoosa--what a great word!) and famous places into the poems. You will want every child you know to have a copy.