Houghton Mifflin 2008
Have you ever eaten soup for breakfast? In this delicious book young readers will enjoy sifting through the poems and pictures of Calef Brown’s imagination…Children and parents will enjoy this humorous, fun book of poetry, and the illustrations capture these fun scenes perfectly.
– Children’s Literature
In Brown’s latest poetry collection, food is the subject in much of the nonsense verse. Bright acrylic illustrations extend the silliness with images of noodles tucked into haystacks and a spread of wildly colored donuts. As in Flamingos on the Roof (2006) and Brown’s other titles, the words’ playful sounds are a big part of the fun for young readers, and the lines are filled with the weird puns and unexpected rhymes. There are also contemplative poems, which are illustrated with delicate images, as in a selection about a young moth “with wings so soft” that it is a wonder it can “lift up and stay aloft.” One of the best selections, “Painting on Toast,” is about an artist who uses bread for a canvas and finds poetry in breakfast: “the primer is butter . . . honey is handy for mountains and hills.” A good choice for energizing poetry units.
– Booklist
The combination of stylized illustrations and offbeat verse makes this collection both adventurous and fun. Brown’s poems rhyme and roll easily off the tongue except for a tongue twister that playfully makes readers falter a bit. Brown’s varied topics and deft touch coupled with his distinctive art make this title a must-have for both school and public libraries.
– School Library Journal