The Ice Cream Store

by Dennis Lee, David McPhail (Illustrator)

Overview

Young readers will fall in love all over again with Dennis Lee’s light-hearted verse, which embraces universal childhood experiences of every flavour, from digging holes to foreign lands to searching for the perfect pet. David McPhail’s gorgeous watercolour paintings capture Lee’s subtle celebration of multiculturalism and offer a colourful feast for the eye.

Oh, the kids around the block are like an Ice cream store,

’Cause there’s chocolate and vanilla,

And there’s maple and there’s more…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781443428187
Publisher:	HarperCollins Canada
Publication date:	06/04/2013
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
File size:	28 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	2 - 7 Years

About the Author

DENNIS LEE is Toronto’s first Poet Laureate, an Officer of the Order of Canada and the author of timeless children’s collections such as Alligator Pie, Garbage Delight, Jelly Belly, Bubblegum Delicious and The Ice Cream Store. He has received many honours for his body of work, including the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature. He is also an acclaimed writer of poetry for adults. His work is anthologized and read around the world.

DAVID McPHAIL is the creator of dozens of wonderful books, including Big Brown Bear’s Up and Down Day, Sisters and Mole Music, which was named a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

Lee ( Alligator Pie ; Fraggle Rock ) and McPhail (the Emma books; the Pig Pig books) have devised an inventive, energetic and delightfully wacky book of poems that compares with Prelutsky and Silverstein for off-the-wall humor and child-pleasing nonsense. McPhail's whimsical ``kids around the block'' (from the book's title poem) are all the colors of ice cream, and they are joined by a plethora of animals--a dog named Doogie who likes to boogie; Hammy, the escape hamster; an endearing flying pig named Lucy; even a dadosaurous who dries the dishes. No subject is off limits--from ``A Home Like a Hiccup'' to ``The Fib'' or ``Mrs. Mitchell's Underwear.'' Lee's rhythmical poems beg to be sung, while McPhail's characters are a constant surprise. Both text and art feature children in costumes from all over the real world as well as from the imaginary one. Like the kids in the last poem, ``Night Song,'' this rollicking book belongs ``Around the block, / Around the world.'' All ages. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3 --More child-centered nonsense poems from the author of Alligator Pie (Houghton, 1975; o.p.). This collection begins with a celebration of the diversity of children, ``Oh, the kids around the block are like an / Ice cream store, /'Cause there's chocolate, and vanilla, /And there's maple and there's more . . . '' and the entries range from engaging character portraits to descriptions of feelings and whimsical wordplay. McPhail's lively watercolors underscore the joy in each selection. As in J. Patrick Lewis's A Hippopotomusn't (Dial, 1990), the poems and illustrations are artfully matched and appealingly arranged. Lee's use of words and images seem part of a real child's world, and McPhail's very realistically drawn subjects dance, think, and dream. Whether they are from around the block or around the world, children everywhere will love visiting The Ice Cream Store . --Kathleen Whalin, Belfast Public Library, ME

School Library Journal

Bright, sassy, irreverent, and tender, this collection shows the versatility of Toronto poet Dennis Lee. In his earlier works, he often played around with Canadian place-names. In this book, imaginatively illustrated by McPhail, the scope is worldwide, with a consciously multicultural slant to the text and art alike. The occasional schoolyard humor may lead teachers to choose carefully which poems to read aloud to the class, but Lee knows his audience, and they'll delight in his wit, wordplay, nonsense, sense, and sensitivity. In keeping with the musical quality of the verse, the characters in the ink-and-watercolor illustrations seem to dance across the pages. A winning combination of innocence and exuberance, this will please readers on both sides of the border.

Carolyn Phelan

STARRED REVIEW: “Like Alligator Pie, Garbage Delight, and Jelly Belly, this book will be loved for its rhythm, fun, and juxtaposition of the strange and the everyday.” — Quill & Quire

“Lee’s use of words and images seem part of a real child’s world, and McPhail’s very realistically drawn subjects dance, think, and dream. Whether they are from around the block or around the world, children everywhere will love visiting The Ice Cream Store.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

STARRED REVIEW: “Like Alligator Pie, Garbage Delight, and Jelly Belly, this book will be loved for its rhythm, fun, and juxtaposition of the strange and the everyday.

Quill & Quire