Doniger's spare illustrations add quirky appeal without distracting from the inventive formations of type. More than just clever gimmicks, the poems leave room for moving lines with a depth that invites imaginative wandering: ‘A / silent / lion / tells / an ancient / tale,' reads ‘Constellation.' Sure to have wide classroom appeal.” —Starred, Booklist
“Readers of all ages will get a kick out of Bob Raczka's clever Lemonade . . . . This book will appeal to both poetry and puzzle lovers, no doubt motivating them to choose their own words and write some poems.” —BookPage.com
“A clever, catchy, and challenging collection.” —School Library Journal
“The lemonade here is cool and refreshing, and it makes you want to do some squeezing yourself in this playground where poet meets Scrabble nerd.” —Horn Book
“Fun as a prompt for poetic exploration.” —Kirkus Reviews
“This will be a natural as an inspiration for language arts assignments that appeal both to the wordily creative and the code-loving.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
“Raczka's poems are all produced from the letters in single words, magnifying and playing on their meanings . . . . there's a subtle humor and power at work in many ("friend" reads simply "fred/ finds/ ed"), and readers may be spurred to construct their own.” —Publishers Weekly
“Raczka's Lemonade and other poems squeezed from one word
Inspired by the concrete poetry of Andrew Russ (aka endwar), Raczka's poems are all produced from the letters in single words, magnifying and playing on their meanings. "Vacation" is transformed into "action/ in/ a/ van," and the letters from "snowflakes" trickle down lazily as though from the sky. Several words result in more imaginative compositions: from "constellation" come the lines, "a/ silent/ lion/ tells/ an/ ancient/ tale." Some selections feel slight, but there's a subtle humor and power at work in many ("friend" reads simply "fred/ finds/ ed"), and readers may be spurred to construct their own. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. (Mar.)
Gr 3–8—Raczka credits Andrew Russ for inspiring him to try his hand at creating poems by rearranging the letters of a single word. The letters that make up each word in the 22 selections are placed directly under the matching letters of the original word, which is used as the poem's title. The resulting odd spacing of letters and words adds an element of puzzlement to the deciphering of some words and requires a certain facility with the English language, along with the capability for recognizing words whose letters are placed horizontally, vertically or diagonally; backwards or forwards; separated by one space or six, or an entire line with no punctuation included. Each poem is printed on the verso of the following page with words in correct order. A clever, catchy, and challenging collection.—Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Fresh off his engaging Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, 2010) and inspired by the work of Andrew Russ, Raczka continues to dabble in short lyric forms, here experimenting with images conjured up by breaking down a single word. The smaller components that comprise the subsequent free-verse poem read left to right, cascading down the page while maintaining the same horizontal letter positions as in the original word. For example, "vacation" yields "ac tion / i n / a / va n," alongside Doniger's spare three-color drawing of a family and a rabbit traveling through the countryside in a van with a canoe on the roof. For readers who find the spatiality of the lettering a challenge for comprehension, Raczka sets the poem in more standard format, "vacation / action / in / a / van," on the following page. While these 22 poems are uniformly clever, some, like "earthworms"—"a / short / storm / worms / here / worms / there / wear / shoes"—are more successful than others, such as "flowers"—"we slow / for / free / wows"—both in their playfulness and in evoking the suggestive depths of language. Fun as a prompt for poetic exploration but less fulfilling as a stand-alone volume.(Poetry. 8-12)
Fresh off his engaging Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, 2010) and inspired by the work of Andrew Russ, Raczka continues to dabble in short lyric forms, here experimenting with images conjured up by breaking down a single word. The smaller components that comprise the subsequent free-verse poem read left to right, cascading down the page while maintaining the same horizontal letter positions as in the original word. For example, "vacation" yields "ac tion / i n / a / va n," alongside Doniger's spare three-color drawing of a family and a rabbit traveling through the countryside in a van with a canoe on the roof. For readers who find the spatiality of the lettering a challenge for comprehension, Raczka sets the poem in more standard format, "vacation / action / in / a / van," on the following page. While these 22 poems are uniformly clever, some, like "earthworms"—"a / short / storm / worms / here / worms / there / wear / shoes"—are more successful than others, such as "flowers"—"we slow / for / free / wows"—both in their playfulness and in evoking the suggestive depths of language. Fun as a prompt for poetic exploration but less fulfilling as a stand-alone volume.(Poetry. 8-12)
Kirkus Reviews - Kikus Reviews
