Orangutan Tongs: Poems to Tangle Your Tongue [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Jon Agee (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2009

Have you ever gotten tripped up trying to say a silly succession of similar syllables? Of course--everyone has!

It can be sometimes frustrating, but it's always funny! For example, you know New York's unique, but did you know that unique New York's also pretty chic? And if you switched your wristwatch with a new Swiss watch, could you tell which wristwatch was which?

Wordplay master Jon Agee tackles these and other tricky tongue twisters in a funny new title featuring his equally hilarious artwork. The combination will leave you speechless.

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
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (March 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423103157
• ASIN: B002SB8PI8
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.