There's a Building on Sixth Avenue

Four-line poems reveal a humorous perspective on their subjects--Martians, a cowboy, deep-sea diving, the new moon, and many others

PreSchool-Grade 2-- These four-line poems are supposed to be clever musings on such things as singing birthday cakes, deep-sea diving, and Martians. Instead, they're uninspired and flat, and they fail to amuse or intrigue. (``A snowman was sad/ with no one to play,/ so he made some new friends,/ now he plays the whole day.'') The illustrations, in pen and ink and bright colors, are obviously an effort to emphasize the silly possibilities of the verses, but they do little to spark the imagination. They're much like the work of Drescher, Khalsa, and even Pinkwater, but without the personality. As poetry or as a picture book, this building fails to rise above curb level. --Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.