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Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Poetry Friday - A review of Last Laughs

I wasn't at all sure that I was going to like today's poetry title. It sounded a little odd, but interesting at the same time. Since the book was also written by two of my favorite poets, I took the plunge, and I am so glad that I did. I had a grand time reading animal epitaphs, laughing (and groaning) at the clever word play, and at the images that the poems brought to mind.

J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen
Illustrated by Jeffrey Stewart Timmins
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 7 to 9
Charlesbridge, 2012, 978-1-58089-260-5
Here we are at Amen Creature Corners, a cemetery where animals, not humans, are buried. It is true that “beasties” come here to cry over the graves of their friends and loved ones, but they are also here to have “one last laugh” courtesy of the dearly department. In this cemetery “it’s not / all gloom and doom / that’s written / once upon a tomb.”
   Actually, many of the words on the gravestones are funny, in a rather irreverent way. We read about how Rowdy Rooster made the mistake of being so “cocky” that he dared to head-butt a car. He is one of many animals who seemed to have lacked a sense of self preservation. There is the moth who “lived by the fire / and died by the flame,” and the woodpecker who pecked a tree limb one to many times with disastrous results.
   Then were those who were just too sure of themselves. There was a swordfish who fought a shark, and lost the battle, and a piranha who found out too late that it had the “second-sharpest / teeth in the river.”
   Full of clever word play and often decidedly macabre humor, these poetical animal epitaphs will tickle the fancy of readers who like their poetry served up dark. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

love it!

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