Noisy Poems for a Busy Day
by Robert Heidbreder
illustrated by Lori Joy Smith
Date: 2012
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library
Chock-full of playful pocket-sized poems that capture adventures big and small in a child’s day, this collection begs to be read aloud from sunup to sundown!
(synopsis from Goodreads)
Shel Silverstein this isn't. It says something (probably not good) when you can't read a book like this in one sitting. It's only 40 pages, after all! But something about the poems seemed tedious, and I just didn't enjoy this.
The book is divided up like a book of poems, and each one has a title. But, really, the poems are all part of one larger story about the mundane activities of a child's day. Waking, dressing, eating, burping (oh, lord, the burping), playing, fighting, bathing, sleeping, dreaming... If you're a human being, there's nothing new to see here. And the stupid poems were all the same. There were four lines of rhyming text, and then an interjection of some sort. A few poems in, and I was already getting bored.
The mealtime poems (there are three) are especially annoying. There's so much sloppy slurping and burping that I started to feel a little queasy. But the parent is more concerned about their child's grammar than their lousy manners:
"Can I help clean up?"
"May I?"
"OK!"
The illustrations are colourful, but they're very one-note, and I didn't feel anything looking at them. I guess if you like the style, they're fine, but they didn't impress me.
Overall, this is a weak book. It doesn't work as a story (it's far too tedious to read the whole thing at once), and the individual poems are so boring that it's not like you'd want to just pick a few favourites and read them aloud. For better kids' poems, check out Shel Silverstein's books, or even Chris Harris's I'm Just No Good at Rhyming.
Premise: 2/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Overall: 1.86 out of 5
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