Houghton Mifflin 2006
You can listen to me read the book here.
New York Times #1 Best Seller In Children’s Picture Books
Featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition
Winner of the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry
A 2007 Children’s Book Council Choice
This quirky picture book moves from poem to poem with a great deal of colorful detail and over-the-top humor. From poems about “biscuits in the wind” and “the crystal bowling ball,” to ones about tiny baby sphinxes and Poseidon’s hair, these one-page free-verse poems will engage budding poets who want poems they can understand.
– Children’s Literature
Brown’s lively nonsense rhymes blend the mythic and the contemporary, as do his acrylic illustrations, part folk art, part postmodern. The wry mockery of the haikus will appeal to older readers, but even preschoolers will enjoy acting out poems such as “Combo Tango” (“Stomp like a buffalo. / Drop like a yo-yo. / Swing like a golf pro. / Flip like a hairdo . . . “). Words and pictures manage to be both clear and weird, an enjoyable mix.
– Booklist
Brown’s imaginative wordplay is matched by his acrylic paintings depicting people and places in unusual hues. . . . Silly it may be, but all the best kind, prompting the reader to see the world (slightly) askew and to delight in it.
– Hornbook
Twenty-eight more flights of fancy from a rapidly improving nabob of nonsense. . . . Composed with a fine ear for consistent rhythms and silly wordplay, these verses will tempt readers into repeat visits.
– Kirkus Reviews
This is poetry to convert the unpoetic. This is a book that begs to be read aloud by kids of all ages. There’s something for everyone here. A marvelous addition to any poetry section.
– Betsy Bird, A Fuse#8 Production