The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes

The team behind Today at the Bluebird Cafe and A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk reunites for a playful grouping of 21 food-themed poems, organized by season and likely to be as crowd-pleasing as "The Noodles Nibbled Nationwide!/ The Famous Food Celebrities!/ The Couple That You Know and Love!/ The One, the Only, MAC and CHEESE!" (Ruddell knows her audience.) The author is similarly rhapsodic about guacamole and a smoothie of questionable ingredients ("A whisper of pickle/ is what I detect/ with glimmers of turnip/ I didn't expect"), but making raisins from grapes is another story ("let them go until they look/ like wrinkled rubber rocks/ and have the bold, enchanting taste/ of well-worn pirate socks"). Rankin's watercolors match Ruddell's whimsy and enthusiasm ounce for ounce, making for delectable reading. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

K-Gr 3--Organized by the four seasons, these 21 brief poems bring out the tastes of the year. Starting with spring strawberries and ending with a giant birthday cake, each selection teases out the most fantastical, delightful, and sensory elements of everyday food. The Strawberry Queen wears an "elegant suit--which is beaded and red" with a "green, leafy crown." Peaches have "flannelpajamaty skin" while raisins have the "enchanting taste/of well-worn pirate socks." The book includes a delicious variety of forms and all of the poems have elements of surprise and adventure. Even the baked potato-canoes will keep readers on the edge of their seats: "They oozed with steam and sour cream./They were loaded with bacon and chives./But silverware was everywhere--/and they barely escaped with their lives." The illustrations combine jerky lines and irregular proportions with soft, wet watercolor washes to create an absurd dreamy quality that brings even more fun to the book. Pair this yummy book of verse with this creative team's other fanciful poetry volumes: A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems (2009) and Today at the Bluebird Cafe A Branchful of Birds (2007, both S. & S.). VERDICT A must-serve in most collections.--Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA