Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs

by J. Patrick Lewis, Jane Yolen, Jeffrey Stewart Timmins (Illustrator)

Overview

Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis and the inimitable Jane Yolen team up in this ironic and witty take on the last moments in the lives of a variety of animals.

Each satirical poem in this darkly humorous collection is an epitaph of a different animal. Grouped by animal type, these posthumous poems are full of clever wordplay and macabre humor that will appeal to kids (and adults) of all ages. From the humble chicken to the great blue whale, this laugh-out-loud poetry collection is sure to be a hit at storytimes and around Halloween.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580892605
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	07/01/2012
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

J. Patrick Lewis is the author of more than seventy books for children and was recently named Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. His books include FIRST DOG, SPOT THE PLOT: A RIDDLE BOOK OF RIDDLES, and KINDERGARTEN CAT. He lives in Westerville, Ohio. Visit Pat at www.jpatricklewis.com. Jane Yolen has been called the Hans Christian Andersen of America. She is the award-winning author of over three hundred children's books including OWL MOON, a Caldecott Medal Winner, the How Do Dinosaurs . . .? series, BAD GIRLS, and SEA QUEENS. Jane lives in Western Massachusetts.

Read an Excerpt

Ciao, Cow. 

This grave is peaceful, 
the tombstone shaded, 
but I'm not here—
I've been cream-ated.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs"
by .
Copyright © 2012 J. Patrick Lewis.
Excerpted by permission of Charlesbridge.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Lewis and Yolen team up for a darkly funny homage to the dearly departed—those with feathers, hooves, tails, and fins. An axe leans against a blood-stained stump while three feathers drift nearby (“Sorry, no leftovers,” reads a turkey’s epitaph), and a barracuda is destroyed by a superior predator: “My teeth were vicious;/ my bite was hateful./ A great white met me—/ the date was fateful.” Timmins’s bleak, blood-spattered palette and zombielike animals create an appropriately dismal environment for the funereal text; lovers of the macabre will cackle over these unfortunate demises. Ages 7–10. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Cracked epitaphs from Lewis and Yolen. This is a collection of 30 tombstone remembrances with an eye for the emphatically stamped exit visa. Ushered along by Timmins' smoky, gothic artwork--and sometimes over-reliant upon it for effect--these last laughs take on a variety of moods. Sometimes they are gruesome, as with the newt, "so small, / so fine, / so squashed / beneath / the crossing / sign." There are the macabre and the simply passing: "In his pond, / he peacefully soaked, / then, ever so quietly / croaked." Goodbye frog--haplessly, hopelessly adrift in the olivy murk, a lily flower as witness and X's for eyes. When writers and artist are in balance, as they are here, or when the Canada goose gets cooked on the high-tension wires, the pages create a world unto themselves, beguiling and sad. It works with the decrepitude of the eel and the spookiness of the piranha's undoing. But there are also times when the text end of the equation lets the side down. "Firefly's Last Flight: Lights out." Or the last of a wizened stag: "Win some. / Lose some. / Venison." Or the swan's last note: "A simple song. / It wasn't long." In these cases, brevity is not the soul of wit, but lost chances at poking a finger in the eye of the Reaper. Some spry and inspired grave humor here, but weighed equally with some unimaginative efforts. (Picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews