Amazon.com Review
Smaller words hide out in bigger words. It's a fact you may not have considered, or at least would never have fully explored without the kind help of Richard Wilbur, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former Poet Laureate of the United States. Once you've found the
gnat in
indignation, however, there's no turning back. You will simply have to dissect word after word to see how the sum is affected by its parts. Is it an accident that the modest, nonflying emu fits inside the word
demure? Or that
mustn't contains the letters
TNT? Wilbur thinks not.
When there's a pig inside your spigot, you
Must not cry out, "There's nothing I can do!"
Be sensible, and take the obvious course,
Which is to turn the spigot on full force.
Sufficient water pressure will, I think,
Oblige the pig to flow into the sink.
J. Otto Seibold, cocreator of the Mr. Lunch books and Olive, the Other Reindeer, has just as good a time as Wilbur in this playful, poetic picture book. His depiction of a moth devouring a cream-of-tomato-soup-colored sweater (making "Anga Anga" sounds as it practically flosses with the yarn) is hilarious, as is the joey shouting "ouch" from inside the mother kangaroo's pouch. Punsters, poetry teachers, and people in general will adore this quirky celebration of the joy of words. And for the record, beware the bug in bugle and the elf in your belfry. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson
From Publishers Weekly
Part hide-and-seek game, part dictionary, Wilbur's (The Disappearing Alphabet) exuberant text playfully demonstrates how smaller words are found within larger ones and shows the relationship between those words' definitions: "Sea is in nausea, which seems strange to me,/ Since nausea comes from tossing in the sea." But not all the embedded word connections are as clever as that one, and some words are definitely geared to older readers ("An obol is an old Greek coin. To think/ That one should be inside a bobolink!"). But the majority of the jaunty rhymes scan well and will encourage readers young and old to be on the lookout for similar types of wordplay. Siebold (Olive, the Other Reindeer; Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride) injects an extra dose of fun into his computer-generated scenes with a stylized wackiness and attention to detail. On one particularly inspired spread, the artist pairs a portrait of "The Devil... at home.../ In Mandeville, Louisiana" on the left, with a creature tortured by a "gnat in indignation," leading a swarm of friends, on the rightAa sly reference to Beelzebub. Kids will also enjoy spotting the cameo appearances by Siebold's pup creation, Mr. Lunch, and Pok?mon character Pikachu. All ages. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
