Garbage Delight
by Dennis Lee
illustrated by Frank Newfeld
Date: 1977
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: illustrated poetry collection
Pages: 64
Format: e-book
Source: library
Peppered with regional names, sing-song rhythms and a dash of wicked fun, Garbage Delight has been a staple on Canadian bookshelves for thirty-five years. Its forty-two superbly crafted poems offer a feast of silly, sassy and soothing verses for every taste, from the thundering “I Eat Kids Yum Yum!” to the more lyrical “The Coming of Teddy Bears.”
This handsome classic edition featuring Frank Newfeld’s original illustrations and book design will have a new generation of readers banging their spoons for more.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
Ugh! Nope.
I thought some of the poems in The Ice Cream Store were pretty bad. Outdated. Inappropriate. But this... This is even worse.
Garbage Delight is as old as I am... and that makes me feel positively ancient. Many of the poems in here are just plain nonsense. Others are kind of offensive (like the one about the girls with facial hair where one of them blows her face off with a bomb). Some are downright horrifying; one poem has a child throwing his little brother from the CN Tower. When that inexplicably doesn't kill him, he stuffs him in the furnace and waits eagerly for December when the heat will go on.
Both of these poetry collections are too old. There are only a few poems that could work for today's audiences. They should maybe be collected and put into a new volume with nicer pictures. (I'm not a fan of the illustrations here. They're outdated--again, that seems to be a theme--and not particularly appealing to look at. I liked the pictures in The Ice Cream Store much better.)
I can't recommend this. If you want a cringe-worthy look at what was deemed appropriate literature for kids in 1977, have a look... but I wouldn't recommend letting a child read it.
Selection: 2/5
Meter: 2/5
Illustrations: 1/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Overall: 1.6 out of 5
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