Customer Reviews

Outside the Lines

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a find! A children's book of poetry that isn't mind-numbingly silly or boring. Once you figure out how these poems are to be read on the page (which in itself is entertaining), you're immersed in the secret world of children at play. The little reader in my house enjoyed it so much that she was enticed to try composing her own poetry. The beautiful and child-like illustrations perfectly match the poems.

Brad Burg introduces poetry at play, 22 delightful and intriguing poems that literally run, skip, bounce, swing, float, and slide across the pages demonstrating each playtime activity. Mr Burg's poems are filled with energy, rhythm, and motion, as your eyes follow each cleverly worded activity from playing catch, tag, or soccer, throwing a frisbee, flying kites and paper airplanes, and climbing the jungle gym, to blowing bubbles, watching fireflies, jumping in a leaf pile or on your bed, and building a sand castle. Rebecca Gibbon's bright and charming illustrations enhance each verse, and help bring it to life on the page. Together, word and art offer an imaginative, interactive collection that is both a feast for the eyes and the ears. Perfect for youngsters 5 and older, Outside The Lines is a marvelous introduction to "concrete" poetry, and a fun-filled masterpiece of creativity, not to be missed.

Clever -- very clever -- and playful -- but I wonder whether this is a book more for those adults who appreciate the cleverness than for young kids who are just trying to learn the rules of word sequences on the printed page so they can proudly say, "I can read!" From the brief bios of the author and illustrator on the book's jacket, it would appear that both of them have played outside the lines -- or wanted to -- and there are certainly many adults who can empathize with that impulse and who will find these visual verses a delightful reminder of childhood when the world was vivid and secure.