The Wonder Book, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

The Wonder Book, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Paul Schmid (Harper Collins, 2010, 79pp), is a feast of poetry, puns, short story-lets, and assorted humorous snippets for kids and whatever grownup might be reading aloud.

We meet Mary Mac's friends, including

"Miss Mary Mellow Mellow Mellow
All dressed in yellow yellow yellow
Slept till noon noon noon
And then ate Jell-O Jell-O Jell-O" (page 20)


There are lots of puns:

From "Word Play (in Four Acts)"

The bicycle couldn't stand alone
(it was two tired)

The TV couldn't sleep
(it was too wired)

Read the book for Acts 3 and 4!

Lots of funny black and white line drawings, palindromes, advice for the young on such crucial topics as cookie pilfering, and many other assorted divertissements. You can see a number of the illustrations for yourself at this interview with Paul Schmid at Seven Impossible Things--I'm especially glad the twisted version of This Little Piggie is shown in its entirety.

I myself found the Index especially satisfying. "yes" appears on pages 12-13,16, and 44. hee hee.

It's a lovely book to have on the coffee table in the living room, for one's nine-year old to dip into at random and chuckle over; it's a fun book to read to your six-year old (those, coincidentally, being the ages of my own boys).

Here's another review, at A Year of Reading.

This is my contribution to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Becky at Becky's Book Reviews

(disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher)