Laugh-Eteria Book

Kids will find plenty to chuckle over in Douglas Florian's punchline-rich Laugh-eteria, his seventh poetry offering after walloping successes like Bing Bang Boing and Insectlopedia. Well-loved for his shameless punnery, Florian never hesitates to manipulate the language to suit his whim: "Graffiti, graffiti,/ On sidewalk and streeti,/ On glass and concreeti,/ And on subway seati," begins one poem. Some of his verse rhymes quite neatly, such as this stanza from "Don't Drag a Dragon": "Don't drag a dragon by its tooth./ To drag it such is most uncouth, /Discourteous, and impolite,/ And it will eat you in one bite." "What I'd Like to Share" bounces jauntily as well: "I'd like to share a nasty cold/ And all my clothing that's too old. /I'd like to share a rotten chore. /Perhaps you'd like to the sweep the floor?" Other poems seem more unfinished, as if Florian got so excited about a certain goofy upside-down idea that it simply spilled out on to the page. In any case, Laugh-eteria is third-grader paradise, bursting with poem-riddles, flipped perspectives, and references to stinky feet, slimy food, monsters, noses, bugs, and dinosaurs that invariably reduce 8-year-olds to giggling heaps. Much like in Shel Silverstein's collections, each double-page spread comes to life with the poet's own freestyle ink drawings. Florian fans will enjoy the punster's groan-worthy wordplay, and kids will no doubt relish the rampant silliness that's strangely akin to their own. (Ages 4 to 9) --Karin Snelson, Amazon.comRead More