Because of my ramshackle patches Where scrofulous weeds rule unchecked, I've earned from the trolls and the goblins A measure of grudging respect. Jack Prelutsky, creator of more than 30 books of verse, is clearly in his element here, though he claims that "Any resemblance between Awful Ogre and the poet is purely coincidental." And, Paul O. Zelinsky, who received the 1998 Caldecott Medal for Rapunzel explodes into zany genius in this gruesomely gorgeous picture book, perfect for any 8-year-old boy in the peak of his giddy gross-out phase. We could spend hours scouring the pages for tiny details, lovingly etched by Zelinsky, from a tiny protesting man in a fish food container next to a piranha to the artful steam above the ogre's bowl of scream of wheat. This book is a masterpiece. He may smell of weasel grease, drink gargoyle bile, eat scrambled legs, and grow carnivorous roses, but Awful Ogre is a friend your kids won't mind having. (Ages 6 and older) --Karin Snelson From Publishers Weekly relutsky uncorks his latest collection of light verse, a divinely wretched celebration of subversity. Every detail of Awful Ogre's day offers possibility for gross-outs, from sunup ("I flick aside the lizard/ Clinging grimly to my chin,/ And now I feel I'm ready/ For my morning to begin") to sundown (a sly swat at Goodnight Moon as Awful Ogre drifts off to sleep with "Good night to furtive spiders/ That lurk in murky wells./ Good night to loathsome vermin/ With nauseating smells"). Whether he's writing a love letter to an ogress ("I long for the sight/ Of your craggy gray face,/ The might of your bone-breaking,/ Painful embrace") or puttering in the garden ("I'm growing carnivorous roses/ And oceans of overblown mold"), Awful Ogre proves an ideal agent for Prelutsky's oversize humor. Switching gears from the lushness of his Caldecott-winning Rapunzel, repeat collaborator Zelinsky presents Awful Ogre as a grotesque but goofy innocent, sillier than he is sinister.

From an explosion of insect color to a steady wintery stream of reindeer, Meilo So's illustrations lend a different mood to each spread and bind the selections more securely than paper and thread. Almost overwhelming at times, the pictures force readers to take it slow: this is a collection to savor for years, either as a read-alone or read-aloud. A well-designed, comprehensive, and satisfying book, this is certainly a superlative collection. Of smaller breadth, Ann Carter's Birds Beasts and Fishes (Macmillan, 1991) contains completely different poems in the same style, and complements this one nicely. In sound and sight, this book is a beauty

 Knopf Books for Young Readers 067987058X / 9780679870586
Hardcover New condition Very good w/some shelf wear New York 

Price: 19.75 USD