Ghastlies, Goops and Pincushions: Nonsense Verse [Library Binding]

X. J. Kennedy (Author), Ron Barrett (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

A collection of nonsense poems describing a variety of unlikely characters and situations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The rhymes and nonsense verse in this slim volume will enchant Kennedy's fans. Although not all of the poems are equally clever or well-phrased, all are guaranteed to be zany. Aunt Gilda, for example, "wears twelve hat pins / All sticking out, so that / Those pesky crows with scratchy toes / Won't lay eggs in her hat." After he is eaten by a shark, archeologist Arthur McLarky's remains are only "his shovel and car key," and Ignatz Pigfats gets his diet tips from a fried electric eel. At his best, Kennedy sprinkles his poems liberally with puns and rhymes: "Whenever I / Eat ravioli / I fork it quick / But chew it slolistet ." Barrett's bizarre drawings resemble 1940s Looney Tunes characters; a daffodil sports a coronet nose, an almost surrealistic baby is yanked up by the hair, and children with round Katzenjammer Kids faces stare at the world's nonsense with round button-eyes. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-- The tone of Kennedy's collection of 62 poems and limericks is silly, with subject matter ranging from "Robert Robot" ("Light your lightbulb! Look alive!/ Dust your dirty old disk drive!") to "The Case of the Crumbled Cookies" ("My manhunt ends right at the shelf/ I snap the handcuffs on myself"). The accessible, child-appealing themes place the poems in the realm of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, and the best of Kennedy's poems offers a surprising image under all the word play and nonsense. Barrett's soft black-and-white drawings illustrate, but don't really extend the humor of the poems. Light fare that is sure to amuse. --Kathleen Whalin, formerly at Public Library of Columbus and Franklin County, OH
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 56 pages
• Publisher: Margaret Mcelderry; 1st edition (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689504772
• ISBN-13: 978-0689504778
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,049,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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