The Red Ear Blows Its Nose: Poems for Children and Others

by Robert Schechter, S Federico (Illustrator)

Overview

The Red Ear Blows Its Nose is an illustrated poetry collection for children and others, covering thinking and the brain, identity and being a person, nature and the seasons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773491349
Publisher:	Word Galaxy
Publication date:	04/01/2023
Pages:	118
Sales rank:	645,156
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.31(d)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Robert Schechter's award-winning poetry for children has appeared in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Spider, Ladybug, the Caterpillar, Blast Off, Countdown, Orbit, and more than a dozen anthologies published by Bloomsbury, National Geographic, Macmillan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the Emma Press, and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. His poems for adults have won both the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize and the X. J. Kennedy Parody Award, and his verse often appears in the Washington Post Style Invitational (where he is a former Rookie and Loser of the Year) and in the Spectator magazine's weekly humor competition. Robert is the editor of the children's poetry section of Better Than Starbucks. This is his first collection.

S. Federico draws, writes, and lives in New York City with his cat.

Editorial Reviews

04/17/2023

Rhymes abound in this wide-ranging collection of 99 new and previously published poems by Schechter. Grouped loosely by subject, frequently humorous verse relies heavily on ballad stanzas while exploring a variety of topics, from poetry writing to nature and beyond. Some pieces embrace whimsy for tongue-twisty readaloud effect (“Though losing/ is gruesome/ and winning/ is winsome/ I win some/ and lose some/ and losing/ I wince some”). Others lightly touch on more existential questions, such as “Unlucky,” which concludes: “I bought a coffin./ It’s worth a try./ With my bad luck./ I might not die.” Most successful are those previously published, including “Colors,” which invites reflections on perspective (“I wonder if what you call red/ would look like red to me”). Federico’s occasional ink drawings provide doodle-like imagery, contributing to the collection’s casual feel. Figures’ skin reflects the white of the paper. Ages 7–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 01/01/2023

Gr 1–5—In this volume of mostly rhyming poetry, Schechter celebrates the power of a unique perspective through playful poems that delight in turning things topsy-turvy. While the plethora of poems dazzle in their variety, several themes recur. There are poems about an "I" who dreams about everything from how time will feel at different ages, to having an adjustable nose, to what it would be like to see through someone else's eyes. There are poems that twist up language like a Rubik's cube, to see what kinds of Ogden Nash-esque absurdities emerge. And there are sensory poems about the world around us and our bodies, exploring everything from how relative the idea of "big" is to how special the five senses are. For child readers, these poems may spark big reflections on how amazingly quirky the world is and how elastic language can be. Sprinkled throughout, Federico's monochromatic pen-and-ink illustrations are bold and full of movement. They tend to match the subject matter of the poems exactly, often marrying the straightforward with the gleefully surreal. Schechter's language and rhyme schemes range from simple to tongue-twistingly complex. Children and adults alike will enjoy bouncing through the vivacious rhythms and the breadth of surprising, marvelous ideas. These are for reading out loud, to laugh at, to muse on, and to grow up with. VERDICT A robust addition to general poetry collections, sure to appeal to a wide range of poetry lovers.—Kate Stadt

School Library Journal

★ 2022-12-24
Schechter contemplates the sun, the moon, his nose, and other prominent subjects in this wide-ranging debut collection.

Showing masterful command of metrics and rhyme, the poet launches observations both playful and reflective on topics from seasons to self. He lays personal claim in “What’s Mine” to the surreal titular “red ear.” Schechter also praises nonconformity (“The Horse Who Said Moo,” “Why Can’t an Elephant?”) and in a scientific vein wonders “does the caterpillar brain / in the butterfly remain?” or if two observers might see the same “Colors” differently. Even when tackling serious themes (“Fomenting war is bad. Make peace! / Don’t let the world get blown up. / You know this. You don’t need this poem. / Unless you are a grown-up”) he keeps the tone light and dishes up plenty of outright crowd pleasers, notably by trumpeting a paean to his nose (“Thank You, Nose”), wishing for an “Adjustable Nose,” and urging readers in “Nosy Advice” to be proud of their own, since “You only get one nose in life, / so make sure you don’t blow it.” The line drawings, featuring figures with skin the white of the page, that Federico places alongside most of the entries aren’t as comical as Shel Silverstein’s but do share some of the same open, breezy look.

Smells like a winner. (Poetry. 6-11)

Kirkus Reviews