Hard-Boiled Bugs for Breakfast: And Other Tasty Poems

Talented children’s author Jack Prelutsky has used his wit to create a series of rhyming whimsical poems that will enchant both children and adults. Somewhat reminiscent of the Seuss and Shel Silverstein approaches, these poetic expressions don’t cater to rules for behavior, but rather to the mischievous eye that triggers the eruption of children’s squeals of delight. Take the angry veggies that end up in a stew or dream of riding a floating horse or become the upside down boy; these images launch the imagination impelling the readers to add their nascent thoughts to the story. The written lines occasionally conform to their meaning as the poem Figure 8 has its words navigating through an actual numeral eight format or as the text actually swirls down the page in the saga of a kitchen sink. And animating these magical verses are the bouncy, bubbly, comical cartoon illustrations that accompany each page, inviting youngsters to touch the figures and perhaps add some of their own impressionistic colors to them. This is a treasure of rhyming verse to be read and reread as the musical trivia sweetens the spirit and stretches the lips into smiles.