Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue (Hardcover)

~ (Author, Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 1–5—From the title poem to a silly trip up a hill for "Gus's Gas," or a praise of "Unique New York," this collection is loaded with tricky tongue-twisting rhymes that will challenge readers. For example: "A dodo'll dawdle, a dodo'll diddle,/A dodo'll doodle a doodle or two./A dodo'll yodel, a dodo'll coo./But that's about all that a dodo'll do." Agee's signature boldly outlined watercolors with simple shapes illustrate each verse with amusing details and plenty of white space. Words like "zither," "muesli," "surly," "unkempt," "surmise," "portly," and "mimicking" are sprinkled throughout. While all of the poems are crowd pleasers, one or two will have youngsters howling. In addition to being just plain funny, Agee is a wordsmith and accomplished illustrator, factors that have produced another must-have winner from a comic master.—Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI
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From Booklist

In the same spirit as Agee’s Go Hang a Salami! I’m a Lasagna Hog! (1992) and Sit on a Potato Pan, Otis! (1999), this book of poems celebrates wordplay. Each short poem doubles as a tongue twister, and almost every line is a challenging tangle of sounds that kids (and adults) will enjoy pronouncing out loud. Some of the word combinations are familiar (“unique New York”), and Agee cites Alvin Schwartz’s A Twister of Twist, a Tangler of Tongues (1972) for many of the classic language pairings featured in the poems. Whether or not they have met these tongue trippers before, readers will relish the inventive, humorous phrases and subjects that ramp up the zaniness. Agee’s boldly outlined cartoon illustrations have a spare, minimal style that serves as a gleefully deadpan counterpoint to the poems’ absurd scenarios. A terrific choice for enlivening poetry units. Grades 1-4. --Gillian Engberg

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (March 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423103157
• ISBN-13: 978-1423103158
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #599,397 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun tongue-twister poems for the entire family!, June 25, 2009

By	JBebe - See all my reviews

This cute book is full of creative tongue-twister poems and fun, colorful drawings. Contained in these poems are many well-known tongue twisters (such as "a noisy noise annoys an oyster," "unique New York" and "I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw"), which are expanded upon to create some very clever poems. The drawings are so fun and colorful.

We picked up this book at the library, and it ended up being a hit with the entire family! My 18-month-old son LOVES the fun pictures - he especially liked looking at all the monkeys. He even enjoyed having this book read to him.

My mother and grandmother both got a huge kick out of this book - my mom started reading it to my son, but when he left the room, she and my grandma were still up there reading and laughing aloud! My husband tried it out and couldn't help but read the entire book out loud, with no one else in the room.

It came at no surprise that this book was authored by Jon Agee, who wrote and illustrated one of my favorite books, Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog!: and Other Palindromes, an awesome and hilarious book on palindromes. He has done it again in Orangutan Tongs, and apparently has written a total of seven books on word-play - can't wait to check them all out!

5.0 out of 5 stars Tricky, challenging poems perfect for speech students or those interested in unusual poetry, May 18, 2009

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Jon Agee's ORANGUTAN TONGS: POEMS TO TANGLE YOUR TONGUE provides tricky, challenging poems perfect for speech students or those interested in unusual poetry. Some are easy to read and some hard, but all share the feature of having at least one tongue-twister! Funny drawings enhance the hilarious presentations.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars humorous poems, April 28, 2009

By	Kirsten G. Cutler (Santa Rosa, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Only the most adept reader can share this collection of poems aloud; they definitely can "tangle your tongue", "A three-toed tree toad tried to tie a two-toed tree toad's shoe." The humor of the text is cleverly enhanced in the watercolor illustrations: bold broad black lines surround swatches of bright color. Children, grades 3-6, will enjoy these amusing morsels.