A Pizza the Size of the Sun

Poetry's bad boys are back again, teaming up to take another swipe at stuffiness. Prelutsky's predilection for playfulness percolates throughout this collection of slyly subversive rhymes, and he couldn't ask for a better partner in crime than Stevenson, whose droll, minimalist sketches so enlivened the duo's previous escapades (The New Kid on the Block; Something BIG Has Been Here). Once again Prelutsky demonstrates a robust appreciation of the absurd--and an uncanny knack for turning every possible subject on its head. Here his verse ranges from the short and sweet ("My mother makes me chicken, / her chicken makes me cough./ I wish that when she made it, / she took the feathers off") to poems of Jabberwockian silliness (the entry that begins " I'm ceiling fad!' a money boned./ Alas!' a carrot pride" is just one example). The pages are peppered with kinetic black-and-white drawings; like Thurber, Stevenson wrings a wealth of humor and emotion out of a few dashes of ink. If a laugh is what's needed, just hand over the keys and let these two drive. Ages 5-up. (Sept.)

K-Gr 6--Yet another masterful collection of poems by the prolific Prelutsky, filled with zany people, improbable creatures, and rhythm and rhyme galore, all combining to celebrate the unusual, the mundane, and the slightly gruesome ("Eyeballs for sale!/Fresh eyeballs for sale!/Delicious, nutritious,/Not moldy or stale."). Each page is brimming with Stevenson's complementary, droll watercolors, reproduced here in black and white. As with their other collaborations (The New Kid on the Block [1984] and Something Big Has Been Here [1990, both Greenwillow]) this book is a sure bet. Perfect for reading aloud or alone, it will be reached for again and again by teachers, parents, kids, librarians, and anyone else who likes poems that make them chuckle. As a matter of fact, this book should be required reading for those out there who claim they don't like poetry. If you can only afford one poetry collection this year, make it this one.--Carrie Schadle, New York Public Library

"This book should be required reading for those out there who claim they don't like poetry."—School Library Journal (starred review)