Featured books by Jack Prelutsky
Reading Rockets recommends the following books by Jack Prelutsky.
Awful Ogre's Awful Day
Awful Ogre’s day is much like anyone else’s, but with an ogre-ish twist. He uses onion juice as a mouthwash with just a dab on his chin, writes love letters to a delightfully disgusting ogress and more. The clever rhyming verse and dark-lined illustrations are filled with humor and visual jokes that will make this collection of poetry awfully popular.
Dog Days: Rhymes Around the Year
Told from a dog’s point of view and viewed from unusual artistic perspectives, these funny, rhythmic, and child-like poems bound through a year from January to December.
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
Rough sketches and ideas by the original Dr. Seuss were completed after his death by a jubilant collaboration between poet Jack Prelutsky and illustrator Lane Smith. Not only will readers glimpse Theodor Geisel's process of creation, they will delight in meeting Miss Bonkers and the Diffendoofer School presented in Seussian text and illustrations that integrate Smith's signature style with familiar Geisel.
I've Lost My Hippopotamus
Humorous, sometimes slightly gross, always kid-friendly poems are accompanied by lighthearted black and white sketches. A range of readers, from sophisticated to those less initiated, are sure to find chuckles in this thick but accessible collection of short, rhythmic poems.
If Not for the Cat
The essence of animals is evoked in rich language and the short form of haiku poems in this engaging book. Coupled with breathtaking and well composed illustrations, the poems are dramatically placed on double page spreads.
It’s Thanksgiving
This anthology by well-loved children's poet Jack Prelutsky includes twelve sprightly poems about Thanksgiving, including When Daddy Carves the Turkey, I Ate Too Much, and If Turkeys Thought.
My Parents Think I'm Sleeping
I'm awake! I'm awake! / I cannot shut my eyes. / I'm unable to sleep, / though I've made many tries… The insomniac in all of us will find plenty of company in this rollicking series of rhymes by the prolific and popular poet, Jack Prelutsky.
Pizza, Pigs and Poetry: How to Write a Poem
Jack Prelutsky, author of award-winning titles like The New Kid on the Block and If Not For the Cat, will be familiar to many children,. Here he uses easy tips and humor to get even the most reluctant writer started with writing the poetic form.
Read a Rhyme, Write a Rhyme
A prolific (and popular) poet, Prelutsky provides poem starters for slightly older children. Young poets can either finish the "poemstarts" suggested here or create their own original poem.
Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young
What better way to introduce children to things fantastic or real than through these 200 short poems? Engagingly illustrated, this classic book features a variety of rhymes both old and new.
Scranimals
On Scranimal Island, there are many curious creatures that may seem familiar, but are really the product of the imagination. Are the critters animal, vegetable, or mineral? Only those who play with words will know for sure!
Stardines Swim High Across the Sky and Other Poems
Rich language and inspired collage illustrations are used to present 16 imaginative creatures, each combining the familiar and exceptional. Meet "Slobsters" that are "…slovenly/SLOBSTERS are crude…", "Jollyfish" with infectious humor and "buoyant effervescence", and many more.
The Carnival of the Animals
New poems, many rhyming, describe the animals introduced in Saint-Saens' orchestral music that was first performed in the 19th century. Semi-abstract illustrations accompany the verse. The book includes a music CD to bring the carnival of animals to life for a new generation.
The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders
Jack Prelutsky is the undisputed master of hilarious verse for the youngest child. And Petra Mathers, has no equal when it comes to bringing anything with fur or feathers uproariously to life. Put the two of them together -and you have a modern classic. Here are poems about people and animals, set in such far-flung places as Minot, Minneapolis, Tuscaloosa, Tucumcari, and the Grand Canyon. Impossible to read only once (and memorized by the third reading), these exuberant poems and irresistible pictures will be loved by children from Miami to Seattle.
There's No Place Like School: Classroom Poems
From racing out of the house to riding the bus with "thirty pairs of sleepy eyes" to the much noisier ride home, these short, humorous poems bring the school day to life. Loose watercolors add verve to the light and varied verse.
Proceeds from the sale of books purchased at Bookshop.org and Amazon.com help support the Reading Rockets project. Thank you!
