Dream Big! A Girl Like Me by Angela Johnson

I always dream. I'm flying in Supergirl underwear way up high!

You can dream of soaring high above the skyscrapers. But there are always some naysayers down below!

With everybody I know saying, "A girl like you shouldn't be flying up there in your underwear!"

In her fantasy she sees herself donning western boots, a jaunty kerchief, and a tall cowboy hat, and climbing those skyscrapers, rising from roof to rooftop.

It doesn't bother her when they say a girl like her belongs down on the ground in regular clothes like the rest of them.

But a girl can dream she swims the blue sea, one with the bright-colored fish and the waves. She can believe she belongs there instead of staying back there in dry clothes on the dry land. So she finds some like-minded girls--who dress in like somebody special, somebody who can wear crazy scarves and feathers and capes and crazy hats and parade through town to where the sea begins, where they own the beach....

...'cause a girl like me should always be thinking way up high... better than a dream."

Noted poet Angela Johnson's free-verse poem, A Girl Like Me (Millbrook Press, 2020) is all about girl power and the power within girls who come together to be all they can be, made engaging and arresting by artist Nina Crews' lighthearted collages of cityscapes through which flow butterflies and stars, ribbons, and the necessary fun hats, all strewn together with woven pastel hexagons that float and flow down to a joyful beach scene. More than a preview of Halloween costumes, this story is as light as a flying superhero, and as down to earth as a sandy parade on the beach. Publishers Weekly approves, saying--"A blithe celebration of individuality, guts, and sisterhood."

Poem Pie Puzzler: Edgar Allan Poe's Pie by J. Patrick Lewis

EMILY DICKINSON'S TELEPHONE BOOK

My book closed twice before its close--
The two opposing pages
That added up to 113--
Were smudged around the edges--

At noon I opened it again--
When waking from my slumbers.
The phone book so befuddles me--
What were those two page numbers?

Mathematics are concrete, and poetry is metaphorical, and never the twain shall meet, right?

Nevermore? Not in poet laureate J. Patrick Lewis' new Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems (Harcourt, 2012), published just in time for Poetry Month in April.

It's not that hard to versify math problems as long as a rhyming dictionary is close by, but it takes a real poet to take on familiar works by such masters as Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, A. A. Milne, or Shel Silverstein, pen pertinent parodies, using parallel prosody, and provide a perplexing math puzzler along the way. Lewis' arithmetical teasers vary in level of difficulty, but all are within the purview of elementary arithmetical operations, and these operations and answers are discretely printed (upside down) somewhere on each two-page spread.

The fun in reading the book lies in recognizing the parodies, which in turn requires familiarity with the originals, giving language lovers a chance to read these classics to young folks, out loud if possible. Reading the primary source poems, or at least a portion thereof, is an important step in presenting the puzzles and a big part of the puzzle as well. To spur some background interest, author Lewis provides an appendix with thumbnail pictures and biographies of each parodied author.

Here, for example, is J. Patrick Lewis' piquant reprise of Shel Silverstein's kid-pleasing "Boa Constrictor:"

Oh, I'm being eaten
by a Hip-po-po-tah-tum
At four percent per bite.

He's biting my thighs,
My tummy-tum-tum.
Bitin' my hips.
Ow! He bit my bum!

How many bites
from top to bottom
Is enough for a hungry
Hip-po-po-tah-tum?

Lewis has the poetic chops to recreate the rhyme scheme, meter, and verse form to reconfigure these poetic classics seamlessly, slipping in the arithmetical operations skillfully without missing a beat, providing poems that are pleasing ear-candy even if the reader decides to take a pass on the puzzlers for the moment. Illustrator Michael Slack's quirkily colorful comic art sets a just-right mood, alternating full-bleed color pages with spot-on humorous spot art set against white backgrounds for visual variety, making Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems a must-have for libraries, teachers, and parents. Math practice paired with gigglesome poems and a brush with some classic masters of poesy--what more can you ask for in 37 appealing pages?

Songs of the Book: I Am the Book, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Who's rich?
The boy who has a book he hasn't read yet.
The girl with a tower by her bed....
Her life starts everywhere.

April is Poetry Month, and notable editor Lee Bennett Hopkins, the dean of children's poetry publishing, has selected thirteen modern poems which celebrate the adventure and fun of reading. Artist Diego Herrera gets in on the fun with bright acrylic illustratons which personify the familar form of book as a pirate ship, a whale's tail, a treasure chest of riches, as poets explore the reading experience from a child's point of view.

This book is the best! I woke up this morning to read it before I got dressed. This book is so cool! It's the first thing I grabbed after school.

The just-published I Am the Book (Holiday House, 2011) features familiar authors such as Jane Yolen, who's imagination vivifies the reading experience as "Words/Nudge each other/like bumper cars/at the fair"....while Kristine O'Donnell celebrates the quiet side when she says "If you have a book...this great new book to read/Who needs a window seat?" Bennett's appendix offers thumbnail biographies of each of his poets and his selections offer plenty of instructive examples of poetic language--alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile and metaphor--and all of them offer vivid word pictures to delight the mind in the way that only a book can.

This book is just right. I'm reading it by flashlight deep into the night.

Simple Truths: And I Love You by Ruth Krauss

BIG STORIES
LOVE LITTLE WORDS.

BIG SORROWS
LOVE LITTLE TEARS.

Venerable author Ruth Krauss's 1987 book Big and Little, has been remastered, so to speak, in Scholastic's And I Love You (2010), gloriously illustrated by the award-winning Steven Kellogg.

Krauss's little poem is simple, a soothing repetition of big things that love little things that are part of them--dark city streets and bright lamp posts, ample forests and little trees, big seas and tiny seashells --in a refrain which undergirds the final "And I love you" between parent and child. Kellogg here offers his familiar soft-textured animals and usual pastel palette of greens, blues, and yellows, but his wider landscapes and subtly textured watercolors have the breadth and sweep that only a master illustrator can bring to this little volume.

A tender Valentine from parent or grandparent to child, And I Love You is a warm and wonderful way to express the beauty of protective love.

Words Are What We Have: Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

"Is what you write real?" asked May.

Ms. Mirabel liked that question. "Real or unreal. They're just about the same. They are both about magical words."

"Do you write with an outline?" Russell asked.

Ms. Mirabel laughed loudly. It was a sudden, startling laugh, and we all laughed, too.

"Of course not," she said. "Outlines are silly. Once you write the outline, there's no reason to write the story. You write to participate... to find out what is going to happen."

"I write to change my life, to make it come out the way I want it to," she said.

Miss Cash frowned. That is not what she had taught us in creative writing class.

It is the final six weeks of fifth grade, and Miss Cash has bravely brought in an actual writer, Ms. Mirabel, to work with her writing class. Miss Mirabel has "long, troubled hair," and a offbeat take on the writing process. The four friends--May, Evie, Russell, Lucy, and Henry--are intrigued with her ideas. Each has something they fear will not come out the way they want in their lives: Lucy's mom has cancer; May's family has suddenly decided to adopt a baby; Evie's mom has left home; and Russell's beloved dog had just died. Henry's life is perfect, and considering his friend's problems, he worries that he can't hold on to that perfection.

Bit by bit Ms. Mirabel leads the children to begin to write about themselves, their fears, their sadness, the things they love, and gradually the magic of words, the magic of making something unreal and yet real out of them, flows through them.

Newbery author Patricia MacLachlan's latest Word After Word After Word (Katherine Tegen/Collins, 2010) is a short, easy read, but not a book for the early chapter reader per se, requiring the experience of the middle reader to really get her theme, complex but offered in simple narrative form, that middle elementary children can absorb. Pair this one with the Newbery-winning Sharon Creech's award-winning Love That Dog and sequel Hate That Cat: A Novel to help middle graders understand what poetry is and what it can do.

A Boy for All Seasons: Guyku: A Year of Poetry for Boys by Bob Raczka

IN A RUSHING STREAM,

WE TURN ROCKS INTO A DAM.

HOURS FLOW BY US.

What is it like to be a kid with the whole outdoors there just for us? Bob Raczka's and Peter Reynolds' up-coming GUYKU: A Year of Haiku for Boys (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) reminds us, in case we have forgotten, what childhood should be--a chance to find ourselves in the world beyond ourselves.

Raczka's haikus are alternately whimsical...

IF THIS PUDDLE COULD

TALK, I THINK IT WOULD TELL ME

TO SPLASH MY SISTER.

and lyrical...

WITH THE EMBER END

OF MY LONG MARSHMALLOW STICK

I WRITE ON THE DARK.

Although in its classical Japanese form, the haiku stresses quiet contemplation of nature, the punchy, seventeen-syllable format lends itself perfectly for action-oriented boys (and girls), making the haiku a popular teaching tool for elementary language arts. In the hands of the skilled writer and illustrator here, the spirit of the haiku is perfectly captured for the young reader. The book is designed to follow the four seasons, with poems fitting each season and each season given its iconic color--green for spring, blue for summer, brown for fall, and white for winter. Three boys are featured, in combination and individually, doing those things boys do--flying kites, throwing snowballs at trees, dueling with icicles, catching grasshoppers, and skipping stones over the water. The words and pictures show simple, everyday things, but in the spirit of the classical haiku, make the reader stop, immersed in the moment, and glory in it.

HEY, WHO TURNED OFF ALL

THE CRICKETS? I'M NOT READY

FOR SUMMER TO END.

Author Raczka and illustrator Reynolds have created a keeper here, a little poetry book that should be on every library, classroom, and poetry shelf. See also Andrew Clements' story, cleverly narrated in haiku, Dogku, reviewed here.

Back to School: There's No Place Like School: Classroom Poems selected by Jack Prelutsky

IT'S TODAY?

FRANTIC
PANIC.
SINKING
SORROW.
THE SCIENCE TEST
IS NOT
TOMORROW.

All the highs and lows of life are part of the school experience. Finding out that you thought you had another day to study for a dreaded test is not one of life's best moments, but it's one all but the most nerdy of students has known. But the school day also has its moments of joy:

B-BALL

REBOUND.
SWISH SOUND.
BOUNCE PASS.
BREAK FAST.
THREE IN THE KEY.
OVER TO ME.
HOOK
SHOT.
I'M HOT.
BACK COURT SHOT!
ROUND THE RIM--
ALMOST IN
FREE THROW.
WAY TO GO!

There's No Place Like School: Classroom Poems, (Greenwillow, 2010) selected by best-selling and award-winning children's poet Jack Prelutsky, hits all the highs and lows and the middling in-between moments, like being lost in the limbo of the school bus ride, in this latest edition just in time for back-to-school-days. Selected by Prelutsky from a wide range of children's poets, from Lee Bennett Hopkins ("School Bus"), to Kenn Nesbitt ("The Drinking Fountain") and Kelli Davos ("Countdown to Recess"), this collection also includes a couple of his own poems, "We're Shaking Maracas," a tribute to the glorious sounds of music class, and "Grasshopper Gumbo," a salute to those mystery meat concoctions in the cafeteria. With bright cartoons by Jane Manning, there's a poem there that captures most of the emotions and humor of the school day. A great choice for a young scholar or a teacher preparing for the first day of school.

The Trouble with Parents! Too Much Kissing and Other Silly Dilly Songs about Parents by Alan Katz

MY MOTHER JUST RUSHES THROUGH BEDTIME
(to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean")

My mother just rushes through
bedtime.
With stories, she sure cuts them short.

If she keeps this up you can bet
I'm taking her to fairy tale court.

Mother, Mother, I know that down deep you do care, do care.
But, oh, brother, Goldilocks met more than one bear!

Alan Katz and David Catrow, those madcap muses of ludicrous lyricism, have combined their writing and artistic talents in a new title in their popular Silly Dilly Songs series, this time taking on the prickly problems of parental behavior. It seems that parental units are always doing things to mortify or just plain annoy their offspring--kissing, talking endlessly on their cells, and, er, "editing" classic tales to fit their own tv-watching schedules--and worst of all, eating disgusting dishes at dinner:

DISGUSTING THINGS
(to the tune of "My Favorite Things")

Entrees so yucky and
Side dishes squishy.
Mealtimes that for days make
The house smell all fishy.
Can't bear to see what tonight's dinner brings.
Mom and Dad only eat disgusting things.

With this entry in this killer-diller series, Too Much Kissing!: And Other Silly Dilly Songs About Parents (Simon & Schuster, 2009), the off-beat but irresistible rhymes of Katz and the goofy caricatures created by Catrow offer the best antidote for those kids who groan "I hate poems" whenever Poetry Month rolls around. These "silly-dilly songs" are the spoonful of sugar that make the introduction to poetry units slip down sweetly. There's no philosophy and lovely lyricism here, but there is insightful imagery and plenty of the major mechanics of the craft--rhyme scheme, meter, verse structure, and wordplay--to make this one a delightful dip into the great world of English poesy, not to mention a time for classroom and family car trip sing-alongs.

Other mega-popular books in this series include their inaugural issue, Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs, Are You Quite Polite?: Silly Dilly Manners Songs, Going, Going, Gone!: And Other Silly Dilly Sports Songs and the world's best anthology of potty parodies, On Top of the Potty: And Other Get-Up-and-Go Songs (see my review here.)

Poesy and Posies: Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire by Jane O'Connor

Bonjour, everybody!

I think poetry is sensational. (That's fancy for terrific.)

Even the word poetry sounds so beautiful and fancy to me.

Poetry Month is upon us, and of course Nancy's teacher, that pedagogue who is always in vogue, is up to the minute with her lesson plans for a poetry unit. Nancy is in her glory. After all, with a rhyming name like Nancy Clancy, she should be a natural as a poet, right?

But even with beautiful soft music, a glittery new notebook and plumed pen, and bouquets of blooms surrounding Nancy, the Muse does NOT visit the Poetry Palace, Nancy's backyard bard's bower. Her mom suggests a bubble bath with bon-bons and lots of musing with eyes closed, but Nancy emerges with only prune-y fingers to show for her sudsy inspirational session.

Meanwhile, the class POET-TREE on the bulletin board is growing and budding with "leaves" of poems contributed by her other classmates. Robert earns Ms. Glass's praise for his two liner,

Peter eats a
Lot of pizza.

"Robert, I like how your first line put two words together to rhyme with pizza. Did you know that two lines of poetry are called a couplet?" she writes. Friend Bree turns out to be a fluent writer of free verse, and Clara constructs an acrostic poem based on her name. Nancy interviews her family and neighbor Mrs. DeVine about their favorite poems and re-reads her own funny favorites, but inspiration, that angel of lyricism, fails to find her.

Ms. Glass diagnoses Nancy's problem as writer's block and reminds her that poems don't have to rhyme or follow any special form. She tries to boost her confidence by reminding her, "You are a creative girl. I'm sure you'll write a wonderful poem."

Grateful for her teacher's encouragement, Nancy decides to write Ms. Glass a special poem which ends with an enthusiastic triplet:

If I have any troubles,
They pop like bubbles
When I go talk to Ms. Glass.

"An ODE! How fancy!" her teacher says!

Jane O'Connor's latest, Fancy Nancy: Poet Extraordinaire! (Harper, 2010) works in plenty of fancy words from the discipline of poesy--limerick, anthology, rhyme and rhythm--which make this little book an excellent way to begin a primary grade unit on poetry. O'Connor's POET-TREE is an inspirational idea worth appropriating for any classroom (or home fridge, for that matter), with the trunk and main branches formed of light brown construction paper with the favorite poems of family, friends, and classmates and the "leaves" fashioned from the students' own poems. A poem a day is great anytime, but during April it's a sensational place to start.

Heart-y Reading: How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Bauer

In her lovely little board book, Marion Dane Bauer borrows Elizabeth Barrett Browning's opening in her poem which explores the love of a parent for a child.

I love you like as a bird loves a song to sing.
I love you as a waking bear loves the smell of spring.

I love you as a cat loves a sunny sill.
And as the dancing snowflakes love the winter's chill.

Set off with appealing illustrations of a young child and her toy rabbit from illustrator Caroline Church, Newbery Award winner Bauer's evocative rhymes describe perfectly the organic naturalness of such love, as integral to life as the earth's "spinning" is to the creation, and as encompassing as the wide sky with each shining star.

I love all that you will be and everything you are.

Not strictly speaking a Valentine's Day book, but still a missive of enduring devotion, How Do I Love You? (Scholastic, 2009) is a beautiful way to say to a child "I love you."

Heart-y Reading: Bear Hugs by Karma Wilson

ALWAYS REMEMBER

"Remember me forever," he said.
"Remember the love we shared.
Remember the way we danced, trunk to trunk.
Remember how much that I cared."

"Always remember our time spent together,
From the first day that we met!"
"I will," she replied. "Don't you remember?
Elephants never forget!"

Karma Wilson, author of the popular series which began with the best-selling Bear Snores On, knows a thing or two about bears, and in her latest, Bear Hugs: Romantically Ridiculous Animal Rhymes (Margaret K. Elderry/Simon and Schuster, 2009), she not only gives us bears in love, but elephants, turtles, pigs, and other romantically inclined critters in this humorous salute to that loving feeling. Wilson's jaunty rhymes are sprinkled with puns and other delicious wordplay which set off her serio-comic tone perfectly:

I'M APE FOR YOU

"Don't keep me hanging in the air.
I have a tree that we can share.
I'll go bananas if you don't care!"

Suzanne Watts' bright illustrations appropriately echo the mood of the comic Valentine to a T: In "Love-a-Bull," her Lola courts bulldog Spike with flirty eyes as she tells him truly "You drool a bit (okay, a LOT)! Those are some teeth you've got!" And who can resist the pun in the poem "Moosetake," in which an apparent pheromone failure results in a moose falling in love with a curvaceous milk cow? With rhymes as sweet and snappy as candy hearts on February 14, kids will love Wilson's playful language and Watts' romanticizing critters, all in good fun for Valentine's Day or for anytime you need a heart-ful verse.

Three Little Words: How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen

Dinner was a disaster! You made such a mess!
Did you stay up past bedtime? The answer was YES!

But when you smiled sweetly and held back your roar,
When you kiss me and hug me, once, twice, even more...

That's when you give love, and I know this is true.
Because that's how a dinosaur says "I Love You!"

In their ninth collaboration in this series, Jane Yolen and Mark Teague once more successfully explore the ways preschoolers try their parents' patience and yet win their hearts all over again.

Kicking the back of the driver's seat, flooding the bathroom as they play in the sink, throwing sand from the sandbox, all those annoying behaviors that try parents' souls are illustrated engagingly by artist Mark Teague in the now familiar style as a variety of moms and dads cope with spilling sippy cups, grumpy awakenings, and missed naps when their offspring show their inner beasts.

What's a parent to do? Well, confront the misdeed squarely, but love the mis-doer, and in this now familiar format, that's what happens in How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? (Blue Sky Press, 2009). But little dinosaurs have their lovable sides, as well, and when all is said and done, "That IS how dinosaurs say "I Love You!"

The various dinosaurs are featured on the book's endpapers, and, as is his custom, Mark Teague also hides the name of each dinosaur within each double-page spread, all ten of them, from Antaretosaurus to Tsintaosaurus, to add to the fun. Good for Valentine's Day and any bedtime night, this latest in their How Do Dinosaurs.... series makes a great pair with Yolen's and Teague's How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends?

School Days, School Days: First Food Fight This Fall and Other School Poems by Marilyn Singer

Cleaning Erasers
by Kwan

I love
to erase the
board.
To make today's words
and numbers smear,
then disappear
from here.

I grab
the erasers
Out the open windows.
Watch out, below--
Lessons heading
your way!

In Marilyn Singer's forthcoming First Food Fight This Fall and Other School Poems (Abrams, 2009), we first meet a group of kids destined to become Ms. Mundy's class--each unique even in the way they mount the steps onto the bus and take their seats. Laksmi shyly hides behind her hair, while Dylan clicks a mental photograph of the noisy gang's first ride to school. As the year goes forward, Singer crafts 29 engaging and endearing poems by one or more of these students, chronicling not only the familiar milestones--squabbles and games, holidays and first snowfall, tests and triumphs--but each child's passage through the trivial and momentous days of their lives. And like Dylan's mental click, each child is caught in a verbal snapshot as each grows through the year.

The verses range from humorous to arresting. Here are two takes on the classroom reading of a well-known poem:

When Ms Mundy Read Us A Poem
by Laksmi and Kwan

I fell asleep as
usual.
Only this time
I dreamed of flowers.
---Laksmi
On the grayest fall day,
all the maples outside
were bare.
But in our room cherry
trees bloomed.
---Kwan

The constant squeaking of swings, thump of basketballs and shrieking, all the running and shoving of hide-and-seek suddenly stop for a special event, through the photographic eyes of Dylan, who echoes Robert Frost:

Posing for the perfect photograph,
we looked up, still and silent,
heads tilted, mouths open wide,
to catch the first snowflakes of December
on the last outdoor recess of the year.

Constant rivals Amy and Malik keep their feud going in their joint poem "Valentine's Day" which concludes:

Tell me that you won't be mine!
Please don't be my Valentine!

The school year makes it way through science fair time, food fights and cleanups, bean-planting activities, field trips, and also significant individual triumphs. Laksmi stays awake and suddenly "sees" a poem in her wide-open mental eye, Jake finally volunteers to do math on the board, Ms. Mundy hands Dylan her real camera to snap a perfect class picture, and Fumi discovers that although she hates gym, she loves dancing there. And then, amazingly, it's the last day of school:

Last, First

Last bubblegum stash,
last lesson we're taught.
Last fountain to splash,
last chance to get caught.

Last hugs all around,
last read-aloud poem.
Last wish we could stay,
last loud bus ride home,

First chance to sleep late,
first day it's too warm.
First do-nothing date,
first great thunderstorm.

First race to the beach,
First green beans to pick.
First sweet-tasting peach,
First jellyfish--ICK!

First star in the sky,
first "Look, it's still light!"
First bright fireflies,
first long summer night.

Singer's simple poems are surprisingly moving, written in various styles--quatrains, blank verse, haiku--capturing the individual voices of the kids of the class. Great for occasional poetry breaks, for the beginning and end of the year, or as a jumping-off point for classroom poetry study and writing, this slender book deserves a place close at hand on teachers' desks year-round. Sachiko Yashikawa's ebullient illustrations catch the humor and pathos, the ups and downs, of the school year just right, and every child can find himself in these short poems that capture the elementary school experience like a treasured photo album.

Timepieces: All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant

The past is sailing off to sea,
the future’s fast asleep.
A day is all you have to be,
it’s all you get to keep.

In simple, childlike words and gentle rhymes, award-winning author Cynthia Rylant summarizes that oft-pondered philosophy of the meaning of time, as a young farm boy and his pet hen go through their day, feeding the chicks, watering seedlings in the garden, frolicking with his mother in a sudden rain shower, and lying in the grass on a hillside as they watch the sun drop low in the sky above. Mindfully living in the moment is the theme of this sweet and lovely little picture poetry book which has a lot more to give than is evident at first glance.

A day can change just everything,
given half a chance.
Rain could show up at your door,
and teach you how to dance.

Although the day follows its customary routine of chores, it is not without its surprises. A sudden summer rainstorm sends the boy and his mom into frantic action, quickly snatching down their wash, swinging gaily in the sun just a few minutes before, and dashing for the house. But as the rain splashes down on the dry ground and bounces off their bare arms, the two are drawn back outside to enjoy a refreshing duet of a dance in the cool drops.

Artist Nikki McClure here works in a challenging medium, fashioning her illustrations from scissors-cut black paper, in which the boy and his faithful follower, the hen, are sturdy and strong while the natural world around them is curvaceous and lacy, stretching across each sky-blue or golden page with a reposed energy which draws and holds the eye. Reminiscent of the solid style of early illustrators like Wanda Gag, McClure's art is an admirable foil for Rylant's succinct poetry. Young children may not "get" the theme of living in the moment the way that adults might (or need to, since that is their natural bent), but the technique of McClure's pictures, centering on the child's hands, a feather, a sleeping hen, a tree, focus attention in a way that is that theme.

All in a Day (Abrams, 2009) is the work of two skilled artisans in fine form, a book which gently teaches the beauty and value of small things, each experienced in its own small piece of time.

Underneath the great big sky,
The earth is all a-spin.
The day will soon be over,
and it will not come again.

You May Be Silly If....Silly Street by Jeff Foxworthy

Sometimes you're silly.
You know it's true.
When you're felling. that way,
There are things you can do.

You could stand on your head,
And wiggle your toes.
Or just walk around
With a spoon on our nose.

But if you're looking for more
And want something new,
Then I know a cool place,
That's just for you.

And that perfect place for the silly-disposed can be found in Jeff Foxworthy's new collection of silly poems, Silly Street (HarperCollins, 2009). Following up on his NYT best-seller, Dirt on My Shirt, Foxworthy has penned a new collection of kid-pleasing poetry with rhymes about a street populated with silly stores ("Pets-a-Palooza," "Hats and Halos," "Bubble Gum Tree," or perhaps "Phil's Fluffy and Light," where the business plan has a problem:

At Phil's Giant Pancakes,
Business is slow.
They've only sold one
As far as I know.

It was fluffy and light
And the taste! You can't beat it.
But it took 400 people
A whole year to eat it.

And then there's the proprietor whose product demo works just a bit too well:

There used to be a magic store,
Run by a man with a beard.
But he pulled out his wand,
And gave it a wave,
And Poof! the whole store disappeared.

Foxworthy's rhymes are light and easy on the ear, a bit frothy as the title would suggest, and artist Steve Bjorkland's exuberant comic illustrations take the verses to the appropriate super-silly level. Silly Street is tailor-made for easing reluctant poetry readers into the genre when Poetry Month rolls around.

Could be Verse: Smelly Feet Sandwich and Other Silly Poems by Allia Zobel-Nolan

My TV is broken,
My book is half read.
I'm boreder than bored.
I'm out of my head.

"I think I can help you out, dear,"
Said my mother.
"You can rake up the leaves,
Take that snake from your brother.

Walk the cat. Feed the fish.
Match some socks if you please.
Change your sister, and then,
Spray the ferret for fleas.

You can vacuum the hall,
The tub needs some scrubbing.
The dog fought a skunk,
So he'll need quite a rubbing.

Mind the baby so she
Doesn't eat her balloon.
What's the matter?" said Mom.
"Are you leaving so soon?"

Allia Zobel-Nolan's new Smelly Feet Sandwich: And Other Silly Poems is a collection of, well, silly poems which offer an easy appetizer for the introduction of poetry to elementary-aged students. Poems like the above "I'm Not Bored Anymore!" or "The Wiggly Tooth" and "Yikes! It's Aunt Bea!" play with experiences common to the early elementary schooler in easy-to-read verse. Kate Leake's comic kid narrators fit right in with the rollicking rhymes that tickle the funnybone and go down easy for Poetry Month reading.