Laugh-Eteria - Softcover

Florian, Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0152061487 ISBN 13: 9780152061487

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2008

Synopsis

Karate Kids
One was a black belt.
One was a brown.
One had a loose belt;
His pants fell down.

Silly, irreverent, and always clever, these poems showcase Douglas Florian’s talent for creating outrageously entertaining verse. More than 150 witty poems accompanied by droll black-and-white drawings will knock the socks off devoted poetry fans and newcomers alike.

About this title

Review:

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 onto 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. (Click to see a sample spread. Text and illustrations from Laugh-eteria, copyright ©1999 by Douglas Florian. Reproduced by permission of Harcourt Brace & Company. (Ages 4 to 9) --Karin Snelson

About the Author:

DOUGLAS FLORIAN is the creator of many acclaimed poetry picture books, including lizards, frogs, and polliwogs, a Child Magazine Best Book of the Year; mammalabilia, an ABA's Pick of the Lists; and insectlopedia, a New York Times bestseller, ALA Notable Children's Book, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. He lives with his family in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0152061487
• ISBN 13: 9780152061487
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Illustrator: Florian Douglas