(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Ruth Chan. Prelutsky fans specifically, and fans of humorous poetry generally, should find just what they're looking for here: nonsense confidently delivered in lines that scan satisfyingly ("My dragon is mad at my ogre, / My ogre is mad at my gnome, / My gnome will not talk to my goblin. / It's truly upsetting my home"), surrounded by Chan's exuberantly cartooned black-and-white drawings. Along with imaginary creatures and the like, the poems cover familiar realistic kid-concerns such as homework, sibling conflict, and spinach--and if some are a little too familiar (see "I've Got a Cold"), guessing a predictable ending might feel like a victory for some readers. The collection includes a few different forms: a section of haiku from various animals' points of view breaks up the silliness, and the cleverly rhymed concrete poem "Figure 8" had this reviewer-via-e-book barely refraining from turning her laptop upside down. Bon appétit!

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Carin Berger. Ingenious book design pairs with inventive poetry to feature unusual critters such as Fountain Lions, Braindeer, and Slobsters. The fun comes in the perfect but unexpected matches Prelutsky makes, such as the Jollyfish, "radiant, / Ebullient blobs of mirth." Berger incorporates found objects, aged paper, and other miscellanea to tag and label the various beasts. The total effect is both whimsical and fascinating.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(4) PS Illustrated by Jui Ishida. Bold acrylic paintings of animals and babies in nighttime tones of blues, greens, and purples accompany the twenty soothing rhymes about nature and various creatures falling asleep. The sentimental poems are quiet, as is appropriate for lullabies, but they lack the vitality so evident in most of Prelutsky's poetry. Sheet music for four of the lullabies is included at the end.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Marylin Hafner. Coping with chilly weather, making and receiving valentines, enjoying chocolate hearts, and more are topics featured in these fourteen easy-to-read Valentine's Day poems. Prelutsky's humor and warmth come through in each selection. Newly independent readers will welcome this holiday collection, which includes Hafner's equally amusing illustrations.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mary GrandPre. New verses by Jack Prelutsky. Music by Camille Saint-Saëns. Prelutsky's verses, befitting the fourteen short movements of Saint-Saëns's orchestral work, are highly entertaining to read aloud. GrandPré's acrylic and paper-collage illustrations are simultaneously individual works of art and a cohesive collection depicting all the playful animal characters the music evokes. A CD of Prelutsky reading the verses followed by a preview of each movement and the entire score adds to accessibility.

Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Jimmy Pickering. Prelutsky takes readers to planets they've never heard of--and wouldn't want to visit (e.g., Swole, where you can't stop crying; Skreber, where you can't stop laughing). This macabre journey isn't for the faint of heart or lazy of mind; Prelutsky's meter rewards careful ears while trusting readers to figure out words like cataclysmic and unconscionably. Pickering's comically creepy illustrations enhance the strangeness.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2009

(2) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Marylin Hafner. Getting underwear, contracting the mumps, and caroling with your tone-deaf family are three unfortunate scenarios featured in this easy-reader-format collection of Christmas poems. Each is witty, silly, and entertaining, and many pack punch lines with surprising, satisfying twists. The verses are now accompanied by Hafner's equally amusing illustrations, which animate the words for an extra kick of humor.

Reviewer: Katrina Hedeen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2008

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Brandon Dorman. This volume contains a wide selection of Prelutsky's euphonious, often challenging, usually humorous verse. The expansive digital caricature illustrations attract the eye while giving the poems plenty of space. Prelutsky-centric activities supplement some of the pieces; an accompanying CD sets many of them to music. This collection is everything a fan could ask for. Ind.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by James Stevenson. Prelutsky and Stevenson's years of working together have only sharpened their skills. Although many of the more than one hundred poems will amuse five-year-olds, others contain sophisticated wordplay that will also appeal to fourth and fifth graders. Stevenson's jaunty watercolor and ink pictures extend the mood of each poem; poet and artist have created a book brimming with wit.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2008

(3) 4-6 In this delightfully silly volume, Prelutsky guides budding poets toward writing their own verse by providing examples and anecdotes from his childhood and career. No subject is too outrageous to tackle--from spaghetti-and-meatball yo-yos to exploding turkeys to his father's underwear. Twenty writing tips and ten "poemstarts" provide instruction alongside the fun. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Chelsey Philpot

(3) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Marylin Hafner. From pre-Thanksgiving school projects and going to Grandma's for dinner, to hoping for a wishbone wish and post-Thanksgiving leftover blues, twelve easy-to-read poems capture the spirit of the holiday. Prelutsky's wit and strong sense of rhythm come across on every page; this edition features new lively illustrations by the book's original illustrator.

Reviewer: Patricia Riley

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Chris Raschka. In typical Prelutsky fashion, these poems capture the energy and enthusiasm of their subjects. The silly, often ironic poems are coupled with Raschka's gloriously free-form watercolor and ink paintings, which further enliven the verse. From Frisbee to fastballs, the poems frequently celebrate the optimistic underdog--"We're down only ten, / And may win this game yet."

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Brandon Dorman. A poem that originally appeared in a previous Prelutsky collection provides inspiration for a parade of sweeping double-page spreads showing a wizard at work. The poet's familiar catchy rhyming couplets are brought to life in the picture book's detailed illustrations, which are drenched in color.

Reviewer: Amy Lois Cohn

(3) K-3 I Can Read Book series. Illustrated by Yossi Abolafia. This collection is repackaged in an easy-reader format. The poems capture the frustration of trying to go to sleep before you're tired, the nighttime worry about strange sounds and creatures, the dreamlike trance that precedes sleep, and the beauty of the evening. Prelutsky's simple, inventive wordplay is enhanced by Abolafia's lively illustrations.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1986

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Petra Mathers. This collection features twenty-eight poems with no real cohesion other than being fun to recite. Many of the poems appear to have been written to include specific places--cities, states, countries--but they have little apparent connection to their locale. The animal-themed works show greater craft. The watercolor illustrations are playfully dreamy (though a few are rather listless).

Reviewer: David Elzey

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Christine Davenier. "I am the only me I am / who qualifies as me..." Prelutsky's paean to individuality (originally published in a 1983 anthology) is repeated three times, each instance describing a different child. Davenier's energetic illustrations celebrate the kids' distinctly different interests (rollerskating, examining bugs, dancing). The poem itself, though expressing laudable sentiments, verges on trite and is not Prelutsky's strongest.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Doug Cushman. In Prelutsky's usual light, breezy style, he declaims the woes of the overloaded backpack and of doing fractions, and the enjoyable parts of school (author visits, field trips). Cushman's paintings show a multi-species cast of animals; their faces convey and amplify the emotions in the seventeen poems. The book looks like it's for preschoolers--which may turn-off the heavy-backpack-toting crowd that struggles with fractions.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2006

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Carin Berger. Berger's sophisticated visual wit pairs with Prelutsky's verbal ingenuity to create unconventional animals--the Ocelock, the Clocktopus, and the Tubaboons, to name a few. In each of the seventeen poems, Prelutsky combines an animal with an inanimate object and then evokes the purpose of the object in the animal's behavior. The clever collage art uses reproductions of old-fashioned illustrations of objects.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2006

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Kelly Asbury. Counting down from ten to one, this lively alliterative rhyme describes the festivities at the witches' annual ball. "Ten tall crones / with moans and groans / battled in barrels / with bats and bones." Published previously in Witch Poems (1976), the text displays Prelutsky's trademark rich language. The illustrations, while not quite as distinctive, are suitably wild and crazy.

Reviewer: Martha Sibert

(1) K-3 Illustrated by Ted Rand. "Boneless, translucent, / We undulate, undulate, / Gelatinously." Jellyfish, and sixteen other animals, describe themselves in haiku. Adroit and memorable, Prelutsky's poems use words that convey meaning through both sense and sound. Rand's double-page spread art is equally eloquent; some illustrations are fittingly reminiscent of Japanese ink paintings, with their transparent brush work and elegant, calligraphic lines.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2004