Animal Poems -- a National Poetry Month book review

[kellyrfineman]

Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Animal Poems by Valerie Worth, illustrated by Steven Jenkins.

Comments

[cynthialord]

Oh, I love Valerie Worth!

But thanks for the heads-up on the cockroaches. . . .

[kellyrfineman]

The poems are divine. And the illustrations are real gobsmackers.

[amanda_marrone]

Ha! My cockroaches are sloths compared to the German roaches invading houses and apartments. They're sweet actually. OK, mabye not, but I've never seen the dart anywhere. I did have some other roaches awhile back--gigantus blaberus--they had wings and the young ones could move!

[kellyrfineman]

Winged cockroaches -- perish the thought.

[amanda_marrone]

The entomologist who gave them to me said they only use their wings to glide down--not to fly. So it was Max's third birthday--I'm seven months pregnant and the kids want to see the roaches "glide". Well, didn't that roach take off and fly into the bushes--and didn't my wildlife fanatic friends' voices go through my head "You must catch it before it becomes a nonnative invasive species!!"

Hmmm--I need to get a life.

[kellyrfineman]

Sounds to me like you have an excellent (if buggy) life. How's Max's hair, btw?

[dianemdavis]

I love the internal rhyming. that's really musical.

[kellyrfineman]

She was a genius at internal rhyme and use of alliteration.

[bluemalibu]

Looks wonderful!

[kellyrfineman]

It's fantabulous.

[slatts]

cool illos

[kellyrfineman]

The cut-paper work is really something to look at -- the online images don't give the same idea of dimensionality as in the book. Steve Jenkins is a master at cut-paper illustration. If that's even the right term for it.