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OUTSIDE THE LINES

Name: OUTSIDE THE LINES
Author: Brad Burg
ISBN: 0-399-23446-2

POETRY AT PLAY

by Brad Burg & illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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Children trying to navigate these cheery concrete poems would be well-advised to follow the rhymes, because the words might read back and forth to evoke a game of “Catch”; up from the bottom, down from the top, or both (“Slide”); in spirals, swoops, or even from the center out (“Tic-Tac-Toe [A Battle Plan]”). Gibbons gives the verses plenty of elbowroom, setting them against spacious stretches of lawn, sand, wide, city streets or, sometimes, unadorned white space. Musician/songwriter Burg writes of happy times on ball fields, playgrounds, and beaches, in bedroom and back yard. If he closes with an invitation to “Connect the Dots” that may have children reaching for a pen or pencil, still the visual challenge of reading this poetry can be engrossing, and to judge from the popularity of Paul Janeczko’s collection, A Poke in the I (2001), concrete poetry may be enjoying a renaissance. (Poetry. 7-10)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-399-23446-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2002

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

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POCKET POEMS

edited by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Marylin Hafner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2004

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With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-525-47172-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
NOTHING BUT A DOG
by Bobbi Katz and illustrated by Jane Manning

- BOOK REVIEW
MORE POCKET POEMS
by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Deborah Zemke

- BOOK REVIEW
ONCE AROUND THE SUN
by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by LeUyen Pham

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DINOSAURS GALORE!

by Giles Andreae & illustrated by David Wojtowycz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2005

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A dozen familiar dinosaurs introduce themselves in verse in this uninspired, if colorful, new animal gallery from the authors of Commotion in the Ocean (2000). Smiling, usually toothily, and sporting an array of diamonds, lightning bolts, spikes and tiger stripes, the garishly colored dinosaurs make an eye-catching show, but their comments seldom measure up to their appearance: “I’m a swimming reptile, / I dive down in the sea. / And when I spot a yummy squid, / I eat it up with glee!” (“Ichthyosaurus”) Next to the likes of Kevin Crotty’s Dinosongs (2000), illustrated by Kurt Vargo, or Jack Prelutsky’s classic Tyrannosaurus Was A Beast (1988), illustrated by Arnold Lobel, there’s not much here to roar about. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)