Riddle-Icious - Hardcover

Lewis, J. Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679840117 ISBN 13: 9780679840114

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1996

Synopsis

Illustrated in full color. From poet extraordinaire J. Patrick Lewis, here is a splendiferous treat for kids who love riddles and rhymes--and who doesn't?  Each colorful page contains a riddle that is also a poem.  And every riddle-icious poem describes something for kids to guess.  Clues to the answers are everywhere in Debbie Tilley's witty, lighthearted art.  A clever introduction to poetry that will tickle the funny bones of all little riddlers.  

About this title

Review:

A clever and fun book of word-play for children, with visual clues for the child -- and backwards word-answers for the stumped parent! Ages 4-8, depending upon their penchant for word-play.

From Publishers Weekly:

Although readers new to riddling may require some help grasping the concept here, this collection of 28 rhymes, near-rhymes and free verse will initiate them merrily. Presented without introduction, each of Lewis's (The Fat-Cats at Sea) poems challenges the reader to identify its subject (e.g., "This Sky-High Pirate Steals Gold From The Sun, Hides Moon-Silver, Captures Stars, One By One" turns out to be a cloud). Clues from debut artist Tilley's droll illustrations help decipher the wordplay. When Lewis writes, "The tall handsome lady/ On Uncle Sam's porch/ Stands still as a statue/ Holding a torch," the giveaways include Tilley's spread of Lady Liberty serving sandwiches to Abe Lincoln and Betsy Ross. At the bottom of the page, the answer appears in reverse type. While Lewis artfully poses his riddles (a TV "Has no tongue but talks all day"; a turtle is "a helmet on the ground"), Tilley's challenge is to make her ink-and-watercolor drawings as general as the verse itself. She rises to the occasion handily-although her pictures contain the answer to the riddle, she has tweaked her compositions with a disarming eccentricity. Pumpkins tango; an assembly line of cows bottles milk; potatoes compete in a potato-sack race. Readers are likely to return to these clever spreads even after they've solved all the puzzles. Ages 3-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0679840117
• ISBN 13: 9780679840114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40