January 19th 2021 by Greenwillow Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Prelutsky does a great job with poetic form, rhythm, and rhyme. He is equally good with short verses as well as longer ones, and generally has a level of cleverness that is hard to beat. ("The Leaves are Drifting" was especially good, and the pun... very good.) The other thing at which he excels is portmanteau words; in this case, he constructs many poems about "shipping" two animals or an animal and another thing; Kangarooster, Orioleander, Fantelopes, Shrimpala, Slothrush.
Prelutsky strikes me as far more proficient and interesting at poetry than Shel Silverstein, but my students seem to have more exposure to his work. I'd love to see elementary schools stock up on Prelutsky's many titles, such as My Dog May Be a Genius and The Pizza the Size of the Sun.
These poems definitely are on the goofy side. I sort of wish that Prelutsky would do some collections of somewhat more serious but still amusing, child centered poems. He's technically terrific, and I do NOT say that about many poets. I'm just not as big a fan personally of the funny poems which he does so particularly well.
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