BEASTLY VERSE

Name: BEASTLY VERSE
Author: JooHee Yoon
ISBN: 978-1-59270-166-7

edited by JooHee Yoon ; illustrated by JooHee Yoon ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2015

Gleefully distinctive stylings, fluorescent colors, and beautiful bookmaking should make an eager new audience for these old...

bookshelf

Using just three impossibly bright colors, printmaker Yoon illustrates a collection of animal-themed poems of varying familiarity.

There’s a nostalgic feel to the collection, as many poems date from the 19th century—William Blake’s “The Tiger,” Christina Rossetti’s “Caterpillar,” and Lewis Carroll’s “The Crocodile” among them—and none dates later than the mid-20th century. For all that they may be old, however, the poems have a real child friendliness, from the light verse of Ogden Nash (“The Eel”) and Hilaire Belloc (“The Yak”) to the weightier stanzas of D.H. Lawrence (“Humming-bird”) and Walter de la Mare (“Dream Song”). If the poetry delights, the prints dazzle. Layering cyan, magenta, and yellow—and eschewing black—Yoon produces crowded, eye-popping images that will draw children’s attention. There’s a studied, childlike crudeness to her stylings, full of scribbly lines and overlap, that yields great energy. Carolyn Wells’ “Happy Hyena,” its bright pink head wildly out of proportion to its body, wears a green jacket and a yellow waistcoat, playing the concertina as it walks through town. The book’s design offers further surprises. A pink telephone jangles imperiously in a seemingly empty room in Laura Richards’ “Eletelephony,” but a gatefold opens to show an enormous teal-and-purple elephant hopelessly entangled in the telephone’s cord.

Gleefully distinctive stylings, fluorescent colors, and beautiful bookmaking should make an eager new audience for these old poems. (Picture book/poetry. 4-10)

Pub Date: April 14, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-59270-166-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BOOK OF WHYS
by Gianni Rodari illustrated by JooHee Yoon ; translated by Antony Shugaar

- BOOK REVIEW
SUPPOSING...
by Alastair Reid ; illustrated by JooHee Yoon

- BOOK REVIEW
UP DOWN INSIDE OUT
by JooHee Yoon ; illustrated by JooHee Yoon

bookshelf

SUMMER VACATION, HERE I COME!

From the Here I Come! series

by D.J. Steinberg ; illustrated by John Joven ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2023

Summertime fun.

bookshelf

Summer vacation is the stuff children’s dreams are made of.

This collection of verse begins with that first day a child can sleep in instead of being woken up for school by the alarm clock (“BEEP-BEEP-SNOOZE”) and ends with the first day back at school. In between, full-color cartoon illustrations and short, upbeat poems, usually one per page, explore how children in diverse communities spend their summers. They line up on the sidewalk after hearing “the jingle jangle of the ice-cream truck!” They cool off by playing on a backyard slip 'n slide or by visiting the neighborhood pool, the lake, or the beach (where a child builds a sand castle only to see it washed away and another listens to a seashell). Summer also means a family road trip with all-too-frequent rest stops and a motel stay with treats like a giant TV, “teensy soaps and teensy shampoo / and beds made for bouncing.” A trip to an amusement park is captured in a creative shape poem about the thrills of a log ride and playful font changes that emphasize the ever changing perspective found on a Ferris wheel. Summer also includes going to camp as well as camping out in the backyard and enjoying s’mores and an astronomy lesson from Grandpa. As in the creators’ other Here I Come! books, the verse is peppy, with details sure to get kids jazzed, brought to life by the exuberant cartoon art. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Summertime fun. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 25, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-38721-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TO BE CONFIDENT IN KINDERGARTEN
by D.J. Steinberg ; illustrated by Ruth Hammond

- BOOK REVIEW
ST. PATRICK'S DAY, HERE I COME!
by D.J. Steinberg ; illustrated by Emanuel Wiemans

- BOOK REVIEW
VALENTINE'S DAY, HERE I COME!
by D.J. Steinberg ; illustrated by Laurie Stansfield

bookshelf

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAB

by Sue Fliess ; illustrated by Petros Bouloubasis ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination.

bookshelf

In Fliess’ update, Mary is an inventive scientist, but she’s a lonely one.

“Mary had a little lab. / She tested and created. / While other kids were at the park, / she built and calculated.” The window of her lab provides views of the kids’ fun, and they inspire her to make a friend. Literally. She bikes to a farm for a snip of wool and heads back to use her latest invention: the Sheepinator. The resultant pet is everything she could hope for, not only providing companionship, but also helping out around the house and lab. And when he follows her to school, the kids all ask for their own wooly friends. What could possibly go wrong? Bouloubasis’ hysterical illustrations show the chaos that ensues, but the scientist and her new human friends think of a clever solution that leaves the whole town satisfied…and warm. Fliess’ verses include enough of the original poem (but tweaked) to tickle readers’ funny bones, and the rhyme and rhythm are spot-on. Mary is a wild-haired white redhead who is depicted as safety-conscious (bike helmet, ear protection, rubber gloves, etc.); the other kids are a diverse group. Most diverse (and somewhat distracting) of all are the noses on their faces—all sizes, shapes, and colors.

Girl science power and new friendships make for a good combination. (Picture book. 4-8)