Sometimes I Wonder If Poodles Like Noodles

by Laura Numeroff, Tim Bowers (Illustrator)

Overview

Sometimes I wonder
do lions use irons,
Do poodles
eat noodles,
Can chickens
read Dickens...
WHAT'S THAT? You don't know the answers, you haven't a clue? That's okay — sometimes it's fun just to wonder. In this collection of playful poems there are musings about everything in a child's world, from "A Day at the Beach" to "My Friend's Freckles" (do they go all the way down to your toes?). The short verses are a delight to read aloud and are brought to life in funny, imaginative pictures. This book is sure to inspire plenty of giggles as it challenges readers to find the silliness in their own surroundings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689851230
Publisher:	Aladdin
Publication date:	08/01/2002
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Laura Numeroff is the author of the best-selling modern classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and the popular What Mommies Do Best and its sequels. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Tim Bowers began his illustrating career working as an artist for Hallmark Cards. In 1986 he illustrated his first picture book, The Toy Circus by Jan Wahl. Since then, he has illustrated more than twenty books for children. Mr. Bowers lives with his family in Granville, Ohio.

Hometown:

Brentwood, California

Date of Birth:

July 14, 1953

Place of Birth:

Brooklyn, New York

Education:

B.F.A. with honors, Pratt Institute, 1975; attended Parsons College, 1975

Website:

http://www.lauranumeroff.com

Editorial Reviews

The title of Numeroff's (If You Give a Pig a Pancake) uneven collection of verse represents the first line of her opening poem, which goes on to speculate: "Do lions use irons,/ Can chickens read Dickens,/ Do horses take courses,/ Can beavers be weavers...." Unfortunately, its whimsy and lively cadence appear in few of the subsequent poems, all written in the voice of a cheerful girl. Aided considerably by Bowers's (Six Voyages of Pleasant Field Mouse) lifelike oil paintings, the verses do capture the child's likable personality. Yet they come up short in both inventiveness and composition. For instance, despite its kid-pleasing theme, "On Halloween" reads as a lackluster listing of costumes worn by the narrator's friends. On a number of occasions, rhythm falters and rhyme schemes get lost, as in the inaugural stanza of "A Day at the Beach": "This summer when I go to the beach/ I'd like to collect some shells./ I'll string them together and hang them at home/ So when the wind blows they'll sound like bells." Bowers's illustrations provide a narrative through line, incorporating various members of the girl's household as well as images that range from the fanciful (a meticulously clipped poodle slops up pasta, a beaver happily weaves a basket) to the realistic (at bedtime, the girl perches on her bed, hugging her dolls and stuffed animals). This book's graphics will linger in children's memories longer than its verse. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3-Through her many picture books, Numeroff has proven that she has a unique grasp of a child's perspective. Unfortunately, in this book of poems her keen voice is completely undermined by clunky and uninspired rhyming verse. A young narrator introduces readers to the many aspects of her busy life: her dog, her grandparents, a trip to the museum, being sick in bed. The activities and thoughts portrayed are all on target, but the language is lackluster: "We read from my book/About a house with a ghost/Until it scares us too much,/Then we go have some toast." Each poem reads as if the rhyme had driven the composition, tripping up both the content and the meter. Bowers's warm oil paintings, soft edged and detailed, end up conveying all of the emotion in the book.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Unlike Numeroff's other flights of fancy (If You Give a Pig a Pancake, 1998, etc.), this collection of silly verse starring a bespectacled blonde is uneven, and often forced. "I don't know the answers,/I haven't got a clue./It's just fun to wonder,/Do you do it, too?" The question neither provokes nor inspires the imagination; it just lies there. On Halloween, "This year I'm going as corn on the cob./Making my costume was quite a hard job./I pasted hundreds of squares onto my clothes./I'm covered with them from my head to my toes." A few (too few) of the shorter poems have verve and a funny, childlike sensibility, such as the one about a dog named Sydney: "He's got a million spots./I think it would be fun to try/connecting all his dots." Bowers's oil illustrations have a fuzzy familiarity, exude a natural gaiety, and enliven the imagery of young girl enjoying every waking moment. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews