APR/MAY 00 - AudioFile
Kid favorite Jack Prelutsky sings his way through two dozen poems from his 1994 collection, spinning raucous rhyming tales about the likes of Zeke McPeake, Dan the Invisible Man, and Gladiola Gloppe (and her Soup Shoppe). Prelutsky is joined by an ensemble of singers and a band of musicians who play banjo, saw and guitar (with the poet himself playing kazoo). This merry gang brings excitement to the mostly up-tempo songs. I can easily imagine kids (and some adults) tapping toes and singing along. Sixty minutes of fun. P.B.J. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
In an inimitable troubadour tour-de-force, poet and performer Prelutsky (The Dragons Are Singing Tonight) serves up toe-tapping renditions of verses from his popular 1996 collection. Prelutsky's pleasantly warbling folksy singing voice nimbly leaps over tongue twisters and all sorts of playful rhymes in ditties like "Dixxer's Excellent Elixir," "Frenetica Fluntz" and "The Fummawummalummazumms." And he's sure to elicit still more giggles when he occasionally raises his voice to a humorously affected falsetto on "Gloppe's Soup Shoppe" and a few other tunes. In between guffaws, young listeners will find lots of topics with surefire appeal: "Bugs! Bugs!" "I Made Something Strange with My Chemistry Set" and "Eyeballs for Sale!" Backed by a strong children's chorus and talented musicians on fiddle, banjo, mandolin and more, Prelutsky seems right at home. (He's the one playing the kazoo.) This often boisterous mix of silliness and song should prove entertaining for the whole family. All ages. (Dec.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Library Journal
Fresh from the triumph of Isaac's Storm, which told the story of the deadly 1900 Galveston hurricane, Larson leaps into a dual tale set around the World's Columbian Exposition, semi-officially known as the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. The event was to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. It did that and also highlighted America's second most populous city, filled with energy, smoke, architectural genius, and animal and sometime human slaughter. Architect Daniel H. Burnham faced a near impossible task: design and construct hundreds of buildings, some monumental in size and grandeur, in the face of an incredibly tight schedule. The author describes the challenges Burnham faced, but his greatest challenge and greatest achievement was the melding of the diverse cast of characters who created the Great White City, so-called because most of the fair's buildings were painted white. Seminal landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was on hand to complain and create; so were contentious union organizers and agitators, jealous colleagues, builders, and wheeler-dealers. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Herman Webster Mudgett, a.k.a. Henry H. Holmes, had built a bizarre structure aimed at trapping, exploiting, and killing young women. The story of the psychopath contrasts with Burnham's, though sometimes the analogies seem strained or absent. Reader Scott Brick has a young and mildly expressive voice; what is lacking is dialog-even invented (educated, of course) dialog would have added an element of interest and suspense. Still, the tale is finely crafted and deeply researched. An excellent selection for both American history and true crime collections.-Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 6-Meet Miss Misinformation, Swami Gourami, and Gladiola Gloppe (and her Soup Shoppe), and delight in a backwards poem, a poem that never ends, and scores of others. By Jack Prelutsky. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A collection of well over 100 poems that pop and sparkle like firecrackers, well up to the standard set by this team's Something BIG Has Been Here (1990) and The New Kid on the Block (1984).
The poems vary—some are little packets of energy ("Sardines": "Their daily lives are bland,/and if they land—/they're canned") while others allow readers to take a stroll through their treasure-filled lines. Prelutsky puts his obvious delight in words to work, employing backwards writing and mirror writing, different typefaces and font sizes, unconventional typesetting, and unfamiliar words—children will scramble to find out what a manticore is and why its eyeballs might be nutritious. The poems' subjects range from spaghetti seeds, to a flock of defiant pigeons, to more philosophical musings: "I'm drifting through negative space,/a frown on my lack of a face,/attempting to hear/with a tenuous ear/what nobody says in this place." Prelutsky loosens his agile imagination in words, while around the pages cavort Stevenson's interpretive line drawings, shimmy-shimmying to the beat. Terrific.
APR/MAY 00 - AudioFile
Kid favorite Jack Prelutsky sings his way through two dozen poems from his 1994 collection, spinning raucous rhyming tales about the likes of Zeke McPeake, Dan the Invisible Man, and Gladiola Gloppe (and her Soup Shoppe). Prelutsky is joined by an ensemble of singers and a band of musicians who play banjo, saw and guitar (with the poet himself playing kazoo). This merry gang brings excitement to the mostly up-tempo songs. I can easily imagine kids (and some adults) tapping toes and singing along. Sixty minutes of fun. P.B.J. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine
