Awful Ogre's Awful Day

Prelutsky, Jack

ISBN 10: 068807779X ISBN 13: 9780688077792

Publisher: Greenwillow, 2001

Synopsis

It's pouring. The wind is blowing down trees. Awful Ogre's rattlesnake wakes him. He tickles his piranha, scatters his rats, and disengages his leeches. Another wonderful day is about to begin.

Awful Ogre, huge, hungry, horrible--and totally lovable, will steal the heart of every reader. Larger than life--larger, in fact, than all other ogres, Awful Ogre packs into one day enough excitement, imagination, emotion, and sheer ebullience to last most of us a lifetime

Jack Prelutsky and Paul O. Zelinsky have created a tour de force of epic proportions and infinite appeal.

About this title

Review

How awful is this green-haired, one-eyed ogre? So awful his name is Awful Ogre. Fortunately, he takes some time out of his awfully busy ogre schedule to describe his routine, poem by poem, from the moment his pet rattlesnake awakens him to a touching bedtime scene--as rhythmic and tender as Goodnight Moon, but with scorpions and cacti. As it turns out, the ogre has many delightful hobbies, from dancing ("I dance with abandon, / Bravura, and zest, / I carom off boulders / And beat on my chest") to singing "stirring ogre melodies" to bone collecting to boasting to watching TV. He is particularly proud of his centuries-old garden:

Because of my ramshackle patches
Where scrofulous weeds rule unchecked,
I've earned from the trolls and the goblins
A measure of grudging respect.

Jack Prelutsky, creator of more than 30 books of verse, is clearly in his element here, though he claims that "Any resemblance between Awful Ogre and the poet is purely coincidental." And, Paul O. Zelinsky, who received the 1998 Caldecott Medal for Rapunzel explodes into zany genius in this gruesomely gorgeous picture book, perfect for any 8-year-old boy in the peak of his giddy gross-out phase. We could spend hours scouring the pages for tiny details, lovingly etched by Zelinsky, from a tiny protesting man in a fish food container next to a piranha to the artful steam above the ogre's bowl of scream of wheat. This book is a masterpiece. He may smell of weasel grease, drink gargoyle bile, eat scrambled legs, and grow carnivorous roses, but Awful Ogre is a friend your kids won't mind having. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson

About the Author

On September 28, 2006, Jack Prelutsky was named the nation’s first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. Prelutsky will serve a two-year tenure as Children’s Poet Laureate: Consultant in Children’s Poetry to the Poetry Foundation. He received a cash prize and the Children’s Poet Laureate Medallion, which includes the inscription “Permit a child to join,” taken from an Emily Dickinson poem. Congratulations, Jack!

Jack Prelutsky is the author of the national bestsellers Scranimals, illustrated by Peter SÍs, and The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders, illustrated by Petra Mathers. He has filled more than forty books of verse with his inventive wordplay, including What a Day It Was at School! , illustrated by Doug Cushman, and the immensely popular collections illustrated by James Stevenson: The New Kid on the Block, Something Big Has Been Here, and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. Jack Prelutsky lives in Washington State.

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwillow
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 068807779X
• ISBN 13: 9780688077792
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Zelinsky Paul O.