Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh [Hardcover]

X.J. Kennedy (Author), Joy Allen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 3 and up

Do you like to laugh... to smile? Do you like poetry? If you like one, two or all of the above, this is the book for you. Inside these covers you'll find the best funny poems of X. J. Kennedy, a poet who knows what tickles us, all combined in a collection that pleases the ear and delights the mind. In Exploding Gravy you will meet an absolutely terrible baby-sitter, a vain witch, be told who to pet and who not to, be introduced to several dinosaurs, told some mixed up tales and yes, find out all about that exploding gravy - and that's just for starters.

To accompany these wonderful poems illustrator, Joy Allen has created striking and amusing drawings. They give another whole delicious dimension to the work. When Allen's drawings are added to X. J. Kennedy's poems they combine to create a wonderful recipe for fun. Bet you anything you'll be asking for seconds of Exploding Gravy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

X.J. Kennedy offers a plethora of poetry and tickles the funny bone in Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh, illus. by Joy Allen. Some of the poems have been published in previous anthologies, but the poet's fans will welcome this extensive round-up of his work. With themes like "Far-Out Families," "Giants and Dinosaurs" and "Peculiar Characters," Kennedy has kids covered. Allen's playful drawings strike just the right note.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-This collection is just a bit much-too many subjects, too many drawings, and too wide a focus-to be entirely successful. "Far-out" families, monsters, food, and animals are a few of the subjects covered. Some of the poems are clever ("Whenever I Eat ravioli I fork it fast And chew it sloli"), while others are a bit disturbing (Granddad "gropes the floor for his loose glass eye And plugs it in its socket, Straps on his wooden leg again And twists a key to lock it"). Halftones and or line drawings appear on every page, occasionally sweeping across the spread. Some sections work better than others. Overall, an additional purchase where the demand for humor is high.
Anna DeWind Walls, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers; 1 edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316384232
• ISBN-13: 978-0316384230
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zany fun, January 11, 2012

By 

Enslowe (Concord, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh (Hardcover)

Certain kids may not be interested in poetry, until along comes something like this book with marvelous kid appeal to draw them in. This collection features many of X.J. Kennedy's kid classics, plus some new ones, and lively, active drawings. Airtight, singsong rhyme and meter combines with absurdist wit to come up with gems like "Mother's Nerves": "My mother said, 'If just once more - I hear you slam that old screen door, - I'll tear out my hair! I'll dive in the stove!' - So I gave it a bang, and in she dove." Many kids have a natural silliness that such extremes will appeal to, and poems like "One Winter Night in August" are excellent introductions to so-called nonsense... "Exploding Gravy" will be lapped up.

3.0 out of 5 stars Silly Poetry, but Not as Good as Silvertstein, Lee or Prelutsky, January 1, 2012

By 

Nicola Manning (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh (Hardcover)

Reason for Reading: A bit of a story...As every year, I am participating in the AtoZ Challenge. For the first time, this year I only have the X's left and I will have completed it so I decided to actively search out books. Since it's so close to year end I decided to go with a juvenile book. I browsed through the library and could not find a book on the shelves for an author whose last name started with 'X', so I went to the librarian for help and after much searching on the computer she finally alighted upon this title and I took it to save her from spending any more time searching for me. As you can see I fudged a little and my 'X' is for the first name.

This is a collection of Kennedy's "best" work, all previously published; some from his prior collections of poetry and others from published anthologies of children's poems. Divided into topical sections such as: "Eats", "Birds, Bees & Beasts" and "Peculiar Characters", these are all silly poems in the vein of Shel Silvertstein, Dennis Lee or Jack Prelutsky only Kennedy never really hits the mark and passes the smile stage into the giggling out loud nature of the other poets. Silly poetry is really the only poetry I truly appreciate so I say with some confidence that Kennedy's work just doesn't reach the bar of other authors of this genre. While I had a few smiles, mostly the poetry fell flat with me or just simply failed to amuse. The illustrations on the other hand add some much needed whimsy to this collection and may make some poems funnier than they really are if you concentrate on the accompanying illustration. Kennedy's other books have received good reviews, so your mileage may vary.