Product Description

A zany collection of poetry about the trials and tribulations of a youngster's life explains how to cope with parents, chores, the class bully, older sisters and younger brothers, the school cafeteria, braces, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2999447 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Library Binding

From Publishers Weekly
Dealing with annoying circumstances can try the patience of even a saintly child, but this droll collection from Heide (Tales for the Perfect Child) and her daughter is bound to fortify young readers suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous childhood. "I only have one life to live," laments the narrator of a poem titled "Advice," but "my parents want to live it." Another says, "I used to hate sharing./ Now it seems good./ I share my chores?/ I think everyone should." Westcott's (Never Take a Pig to Lunch and Other Poems About the Fun of Eating) waggish, detailed watercolors provide more than half the book's amusement. As fit punishment for a sister who hogs the bathroom plucking her eyebrows, Westcott depicts the younger brother camping out in the bathtub in full snorkeling regalia. Although the poems' rhythms and rhymes are sometimes uneven, both text and art focus on children of good humor and high energy who cleverly cope with familiar ordeals. Whether these narrators are being grounded or outnumbered, their complaints are earnest rather than churlish, heartfelt rather than whiny, and always full of fun. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5?A lighthearted look at everyday family life from a child's point of view. Calamities such as sibling rivalry, class bullies, hand-me-downs, school cafeteria food, and a host of other trials and tribulations are captured in the jaunty rhyming verses. First-person narrations bring immediacy to the poems and lets readers identify with the typical situations. Zany, candy-bright pen-and-ink and watercolor cartoons amplify the absurdities. Right on target for school-aged youngsters.?Sally R. Dow, Ossining Public Library, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 5^-9. Brothers, sisters, braces, hand-me-downs, fancy restaurants, parental advice, school cafeteria food, and other facets of growing up are viewed from a child's perspective. Most of these humorous rhymes end with a clever twist, or a bit of irony. After a boy details all the faults his little sister finds with her lunch, the poem ends with this stanza: "The Popsicle is too ice-cold, she whined and sulked and cried. I put it in the microwave^-/ she's still not satisfied." Fresh, lively, and wildly colorful, Westcott's line-and-watercolor artwork illustrates the book with pictures as bright and buoyant as the verse. Carolyn Phelan