Poetry/Language Play

Oelschlager and Hegan are an extraordinary team, collaborating on this and the following book, Ivy in Bloom. This one hits a kid’s sense of humor just right. It’s both linguistically and pictorially a very funny collection of idioms represented literally. Kids will lol; you will lol. This’d be an especially good book for a classroom.

A. Allison

Ivy in Bloom is a sampling, an extraction of lovely bits from famous poems, put here in a minimal way as the story of a young girl waiting for Spring. Her name is Ivy, and she and the season do bloom. Oelschlager’s selections of poetic words capture the essence of the poems, for example Wordsworth’s famous sonnet to daffodils is sculpted to “Heart dances with daffodils.” This condensation works, especially for the age of the audience. The illustrations are outstanding, original, high-tech, and complex, with an anime tone. Two of my favorites are the dynamic, cool one for “Clouds hang heavy and gray” and the multi-panel for the E.E. Cummings quote. Narrator and artist together have created a book that can introduce children to poetry playfully, positively, and meaningfully.

At the back of the book are the complete poems and short biographies of the poets/writers.

A. Allison

Rex’s latest book of poetry is actually a sequel to Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. While the narrative revolves around Frankenstein’s wedding, there are chapters about the Headless Horseman, Dracula, and Edgar Allan Poe, for example. Adam Rex writes in verse, often in rhyme. I think the rhymes are clever, but some readers might be more critical. Take this one about the Sphinx: “Her Egyptian hat thing/ is all covered in bling,/ and she has a nice face,/ but I’ll cut to the chase:/ From her neck to her butt, /she don’t look like King Tut” (10). Perhaps I am just easily amused. However, Rex’s text raises an interesting issue. Do kids only enjoy rhyming, silly verse? Do we as adults assume this?

The illustrations, done in pencil, charcoal, oils, Photoshop with Wacom tablet and more, are amazing. They vary as well. For instance, the first chapter is written and illustrated like a graphic novel, the second chapter is written like the Headless Horseman’s personal blog with live action photos. (Yes, there are photos of a man with a pumpkin head.)

I do recommend Frankenstein Takes the Cake for some good fun, and if you’re interested in exploring more illustrated poetry for young readers, I highly recommend Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems and Technically, It’s Not My Fault by John Grandits. Grandits writes the poems in such a way as to make a picture related to what he’s writing about. So, instead of having stanzas, the words of the poem form a cello. He turns poetry into a visual work of art.

Marie Soriano