Review #64: The Wonder Book

Dad:  Today we are taking a look at "The Wonder Book," written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Paul Schmid.  What did you guys think of it?
Lily (age 7):  Kids should pick this book up.  They would like it.
Gracie (age 9):  Any kid would like this.  It's hilarious.
Lily:  I want everyone to know the hilarious-ness-es of this book.
Isaac (age 11):  This is a poem book.
Dad:  Did you have a favorite poem in there, Lily?
Lily:  I don't know which is my favorite.  But the one I remember most is with the boy in the water, and he says: "Tinkle / Tinkle / In the sea / Don't look under / While I pee."
Dad:  Ah, so sophisticated...
Isaac:  It's funny!
Dad:  How about you, Gracie?
Gracie:  I like the Various Friends of Mary Mack.  You know that rhyme that goes "Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack / All dressed in black black black..."  Well, these are the Less Famous Friends of Mary Mack.  So there is "Miss Mary Fred Fred Fred / All dressed in red red red..." and stuff like that.
Dad:  And many of these poems involve wordplay...  Making a pun...  Or making a palindrome...
Lily:  A whatty-what?
Gracie:  A palindrome is a word that is the same spelled both backward and forward.
Dad:  And Isaac, tell us about puns.
Isaac:  This is an example from the book...  If you said, "Puns of the Week," then "Sun" Day would be hot.  And "Twos" Day would be a girl and her reflection.  And "Fry" Day would be french fry day.
Gracie: (flipping through the book)  I like this poem too...
Dad:  It's a funny list of names...
Gracie:  The illustrator could have drawn anything, but he drew all these kids piled on top of a camel, and the camel is the one named Bob.
Dad:  So the poem is funny by itself.  And even the picture is funny by itself.  But what happens when you put the two together?
Gracie:  It explodes into little nuggets of laughing goodness.
Dad:  So what did the illustrator bring to the book?
Gracie:  Hilariousness.
Isaac:  I don't think it would have been as good without the words, and I don't think it would have been as good without the pictures.
Dad:  So the book needed both Mrs. Rosenthal and Mr. Schmid.
Gracie:  Paul Schmid makes skinny, little, stick ears on his guys.  Look at them!  Bumpy, stick ears.
Isaac:  And they have little, teeny legs and little, teeny arms.
Elijah (age 4):  They look like little moosh-kins.
Dad:  What is a mooshkin?  You mean munchkins?
Elijah:  Moosh-kin.
Isaac:  The drawings look like they were done really fast.  They are really good though.  I really like his drawings.
Gracie:  Loose doodley black and white.
Dad:  Did you have a favorite drawing?
Gracie:  At the very beginning of the book where everybody is standing in a line, there is this hilarious bunny.  He's freaky!  A fat monster bunny!  He's got big eyebrows and he's the freakiest bunny in the world.  And standing in line there is also a little teeny short dude in a superman costume that we all thought looks like Grandpa!
Isaac:  Ha hah!
Dad:  Does "The Wonder Book" remind you of any other books we have?
Isaac:  Yes!  Those other two poem books.  "The End of the Sidewalk..."
Gracie:  It's called "The Edge of the World."
Dad:  Actually, it's "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
Isaac:  And the other one is called something like "I Have a House on My Head."
Dad:  Ha ha -- "A Light in the Attic."  Those are both by Shel Silverstein.
Gracie:  Those books have a whole bunch of poems in them too.  And look at these pictures!  They are very much the same style as the pictures in the Freaky-guy books.
Dad:  Freaky-guy?  You mean Shel Silverstein?
Gracie: (running to get the Silverstein books)  There are really freaky photographs of him on the backs of the books.  This one has a picture of his foot.  And this one... is... Eeeeea!  They are all freaky, freaky pictures of him, his face, and his feet.
Dad:  So should they have taken a really scary, horrifying picture of Amy Krouse Rosenthal for the back of The Wonder Book?
Isaac:  Ha hah ha... No...  Ha ha...
Dad: (turning to the jacket flap/author bio in The Wonder Book)  See, this is what she looks like in real life...
Gracie:  Oh, she's cute!
Dad:  What about this picture of Paul Schmidt?
Gracie:  He's... not as cute...
Isaac:  Ha ha!
Gracie:  Um.
Lily:  He's got cool hair.
Gracie:  Yeah!  He's got REALLY cool hair!

monster bunnies attacking grandpa boy, by Gracie

Miss Mary Bean Bean Bean
All dressed in green green green
Had the cutest kitten kitten kitten
You've ever seen seen seen

- poem and picture by Lily

And some "Month Puns" by Isaac:

Ape Rule

Jewel Lie

Sup' Timber

Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Paul Schmid
Published, 2010: Harper Collins
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