Imagine That! Poems of Never-Was - Hardcover

Prelutsky, Jack

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679882065 ISBN 13: 9780679882060

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1998

Synopsis

There's the Flotz who gobbles dots (watch out if you have freckles), the Phillyloo Bird and the Wendigo, the Hum Bug Machine and the Ogglewop...just try to imagine them! This glorious gathering of 50 poems about imaginary monsters, machines, and other weird things is guaranteed to poke, prod, tease, and tickle a child's own powers of imagination. Here are tales that are a little bit spooky, inspire creative thinking, and are downright funny from such poets as Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, John Ciardi, Spike Milligan, and of course Jack Prelutsky, along with the lively paintings of Kevin Hawkes. This collection is first rate!  

About this title

About the Author

For 30 years, Jack Prelutsky’s inventive poems have inspired legions of children to fall in love with poetry. His outrageously silly poems have tickled even the most stubborn funny bones, while his darker verses have spooked countless late-night readers. His award-winning books include Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast, The Dragons Are Singing Tonight, The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, and The Beauty of the Beast.

While attending a Bronx, New York, grade school, Prelutsky took piano and voice lessons and was a regular in school shows. Surprisingly, Prelutsky developed a healthy dislike for poetry due to a teacher who “left me with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver. I was told it was good for me, but I wasn’t convinced.”

In his early twenties, Prelutsky spent six months drawing imaginary animals in ink and watercolor. One evening, he wrote two dozen short poetry verses to accompany each drawing. A friend encouraged him to show them to an editor, who loved his poems (although not his artwork!) and urged him to keep writing. Prelutsky listened and he is still busy writing.
Jack Prelutsky lives on Mercer Island in Washington with his wife, Carolynn.

From the Inside Flap

Flotz who gobbles dots (watch out if you have freckles), the Phillyloo Bird and the Wendigo, the Hum Bug Machine and the Ogglewop...just try to imagine them! This glorious gathering of 50 poems about imaginary monsters, machines, and other weird things is guaranteed to poke, prod, tease, and tickle a child's own powers of imagination. Here are tales that are a little bit spooky, inspire creative thinking, and are downright funny from such poets as Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, John Ciardi, Spike Milligan, and of course Jack Prelutsky, along with the lively paintings of Kevin Hawkes. This collection is first rate!

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 5-These outlandish and nonsensical poems bring in a variety of authors, some not often found in anthologies for children, as well as many favorites such as Ogden Nash, Dr. Seuss, and, of course, the compiler himself. In fact, Prelutsky's fans might wonder if this collection didn't start as one for his own private enjoyment...every poem riddles and rhymes its way through the hilarious, the bizarre, and the completely ridiculous in the way that Prelutsky has mastered. Nonsense poetry achieves its illogic by using perfectly logical and patterned language-it plays by the rules in order to break them. Hawkes's richly colored paintings fit the mood: they're funny and exuberant, and exhibit a child's imagination in the renderings of the creatures described; however, a few miss the mark and seem awkward. The creators have squeezed 50 poems into 42 pages; and although Hawkes has done a good job of using the layout to vary, pace, and tie together the selections, the end product feels busy and cramped. Still, this book is a pleasure, and will be a hit.
Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Move over, unicorn, dodo and bigfoot?here comes a circusful of imaginary creatures showing off their tricks. Playing ringleader, Prelutsky (A Pizza the Size of the Sun) assembles some 50 poems?giddy, sly, slightly shivery or just plain silly. Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" is the only obvious selection; there are inspired entries from John Ciardi, Dr. Seuss, Conrad Aiken and others of high rank, and equally arresting selections from less exalted names. Florence Parry Heide eavesdrops on monster mothers bragging about their babies (" 'Mine is ugly.'/ 'Mine is mean.'/ 'Mine is turning/ Nice and green' "); Colin West describes an Ogglewop ("And though he looks quite passive,/ He's crammed with boys and girls inside,/ ?That's why he is so massive!"). The sheer brio of the language is sure to amuse, and Prelutsky coaxes still more pleasure with his clever pairings and the volume's smooth flow. Equal credit goes to Hawkes (My Little Sister Ate One Hare), whose full-spread gouaches testify to an apparently tireless imagination in visualizing the various chimeras, monsters, etc. His creatures look invitingly madcap, just a tad menacing but mostly full of fun?creatures almost guaranteed to raise readers' spirits to full throttle. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5^-8. Fifty poems of fantasy and nonsense are illustrated with Hawkes' wild, neon-colored acrylics, which pick up the silliness and the fun. Some of the best poems are by Prelutsky himself from his popular collections, and there are rambunctious verses by Karla Kuskin, Dennis Lee, Jane Yolen, Colin West, Florence Parry Heide, John Ciardi, and other well-known children's poets, as well as a few old classics, such as Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." There are mad contraptions (including "The Hum-Bug Machine") and weird monsters (including the Giraft, the Ollewop ["He's crammed with boys and girls inside" ], and the Snoffle). This is how reading aloud comes very close to play. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679882065
• ISBN 13: 9780679882060
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48