If You Were a Chocolate Mustache

by J. Patrick Lewis, Matthew Cordell (Illustrator)

Overview

In this tasty collection, J. Patrick Lewis displays the breadth and depth of his talent, giving readers of any and every sensibility something to make them laugh out loud. He stirs humor into an astonishing array of subjects—from animals to school to dragons to food. And he delivers them in a remarkable variety of forms, including riddles, limericks, nonsense rhymes, parodies, anagrams, story poems, haiku, and more. Baked in Lewis's brilliant imagination and sprinkled with Matthew Cordell's warm, witty drawings, the result is a collection to delight the taste buds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684377053
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	04/21/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.42(d)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

J. Patrick Lewis is the 2011 winner of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children and the former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-2013). His many books include Keep a Pocket in Your Poem, Face Bug, and Please Bury Me in the Library. He lives in Westerville, Ohio.

Matthew Cordell is the illustrator of many books for children, including The Knowing Book. His title Wolf in the Snow won the 2018 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago. Visit matthewcordell.com.

Editorial Reviews

"Prolific versifier, author, riddlizer (etc.) Lewis offers this mostly new (a few appeared in magazines or anthologies) collection of laughs and linguistic lampoons...poetry (and silliness) seekers will find much to feast upon. Cordell's scribbly illustrations bring the master (Silverstein, who receives a tribute poem here) to mind and are the goofy icing on this goofy cake. Verse seekers could do worser than to swallow down this course of funky, funny forms of wordy wit." —Kirkus Reviews

". . . Lewis is not only one of the most prolific, comic poets; he's also one of the funniest and most inventive. The collection will serve as a strong resource for creative-writing prompts. A great big feast of poems." —School Library Journal

From the Publisher

In offbeat poems that include haikus, limericks, riddles, and wordplay of every kind, current children’s poet laureate Lewis offers quirky contemplations, silly vignettes, and improbable events. Rather than rely on a single theme, Lewis smoothly jumps between out-of-left-field ideas: a dragon serves as a clothes dryer, Bigfoot laments that he can’t find stylish shoes in his size, and an old turtle complains to the sky that there is “nothing new under the sun,” only to have his claim challenged by a snowflake. The result: loosely integrated poems that can easily stand on their own. Cordell’s pen-and-ink cartoons have an improvisational energy that complements Lewis’s off-kilter verse. Ages 8–up. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 3–8—This meaty collection presents more than 150 pages of poetry and wordplay. Each selection is flavored by a humorous pen-and-ink illustration by Cordell, who tends to favor a literal reading of events. For the poem "Tuna on a Roll," a no-frills, pen-and-ink drawing of a tuna fish wearing sunglasses and speeding along in a sporty convertible immediately gives the sense that "there's something fishy here." Besides fishy fish, the menu offers tongue-twisters; riddles; limericks based on body parts, e.g., "limb-ricks"; anagrams; puzzles; and haiku. Subjects range from a car that's light as a feather, with Marshmallow Fluff seats, to an imaginary pet on a leash whose owner can claim, "He never messes on the lawn./He's what it means to say, "Doggone!…" There are "Epigraham Crackers"; haiku riddles of U.S. place-names; homonym-inspired poems; and wry bits of advice, such as, "never eat your pretzels straight./A pretzel ought to circul8!.…" Lewis is not only one of the most prolific, comic poets; he's also one of the funniest and most inventive. The collection will serve as a strong resource for creative-writing prompts. A great big feast of poems.—Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA

School Library Journal

Prolific versifier, author, riddlizer (etc.) Lewis offers this mostly new (a few appeared in magazines or anthologies) collection of laughs and linguistic lampoons. "[A] book is like an oven-- / What it's cookin' is book lovin'. / Set the temperature, then shove in / Every brain cell you can find." And there's plenty shoved in here, from two-word poems (not including the titles) to 30-liners. There are concrete poems and list poems, rap (from a giraffe), limericks, haiku, riddles and haiku riddles. There's even a jump-rope rhyme. There are verses on blog-writing dogs, insects, germs, boredom, school and the hazards of the incorrect usage of Elmer's glue and eating paste (but those are totally different things). There are myriad meters, rhyme schemes and shapes. A few are a bit tortured, and there are a couple total head-scratchers. However, poetry (and silliness) seekers will find much to feast upon. Cordell's scribbly illustrations bring the master (Silverstein, who receives a tribute poem here) to mind and are the goofy icing on this goofy cake. Verse seekers could do worser than to swallow down this course of funky, funny forms of wordy wit. (Poetry. 6-12)

Kirkus Reviews