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Insectlopedia |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
 Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152163352 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
A perfect springtime accompaniment to actual bugs, Insectlopedia swarms, buzzes, and slithers with poetry and paint. Douglas Florian, creator of the award-winning Beast Feast, On the Wing, and In the Swim, has succeeded again, this time with a delightful infestation of 21 spider and insect poems and paintings, awash in watercolor and collage on primed brown paper bags. Well-loved for his clever wordplay (complete with endearingly shameless visual and verbal puns), Florian manages to seamlessly blend science with pure whimsy. Take "The Praying Mantis," for example: "Upon a twig/I sit and pray/For something big/To wend my way;/A caterpillar,/Moth,/or bee--/I swallow them/Religiously." His rhythmic chant "The Weevils" begins, "We are weevils./We are evil./We've aggrieved/Since time... |
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Autumnblings |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060092785 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-Florian again displays his significant skill at wordplay in this companion to Winter Eyes (1999) and Summersaults (2002, both Greenwillow). Using simple rhyme schemes; invented words such as "autumnatically," "owlphabet," "fallicopters" (maple seeds); and descriptive spellings ("hi-bear-nation," "industree"), he demonstrates that reading and writing can be lots of fun. His poems call to mind all manner of things autumnal-falling leaves, cool days, ripe apples, frost-and of the feelings that go with them ("-autumn leaves/Leave me in awe"). The childlike style of the various-sized watercolor and colored-pencil paintings (in fall colors, of course) mirrors the creative style of the age group most inclined to read the poetry. A natural for use in classrooms and library programs, and accessible to newly... |
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Mammalabilia |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152050248 |
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Book Review
Douglas Florian--creator of Insectlopedia, In the Swim, and other poetic tributes to creatures great and small--turns his unbounded talent for wordplay and shameless punnery to the order of mammals in Mammalabilia. We'll let "The Aardvarks" speak for itself: Aardvarks aare odd.
Aardvarks aare staark.
Aardvarks look better
By faar in the daark.
Twenty-one short, original poems and splendid paintings celebrate (or jovially mock) animals from giraffes ("Rubber necker/ Double-decker/ Cloud-checker/ Star-trekker") to porcupines. The illustrations--painted in gouache on primed brown paper bags--are as tongue-in-cheek as his words; the coyote howls with visible "o's," the otter bathes in a claw-foot tub reading a book called "H20," and the rhebok is sporting sneakers. A pure pleasure for... |
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Lizards, Frogs and Polliwogs |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152052488 |
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Book Review
We are mad for poet-painter Douglas Florian. We were buzzed by Insectlopedia, moony for Mammalabilia, and batty for his other beautifully biological, biologically beautiful books as well. We love Florian for his clever, downright shameless wordplay. One of our favorite poems in Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs is "The Wood Frog": I am a frozen frogsicle.
I froze beneath a logsicle.
My mind is in a fogsicle
Inside this icy bogsicle.
My temperature is ten degrees.
I froze my nose, my toes, my knees.
But I don't care, I feel at ease,
For I am full of antifreeze. Another favorite is "The Polliwogs:" We polliwoggle.
We polliwiggle.
We shake in lakes,
Make wakes,
And wriggle.
We quiver,
We shiver,
We jiggle,
We jog.
We're yearning
To turn... |
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Freeing the Natural Voice |
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| Author: |
Kristin Linklater |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Textbook Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0896760715 |
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Autumnblings |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060092793 |
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| Availability: |
Usually ships within 3-5 weeks. We cannot guarantee availability of special order titles because publishers may run out of stock. We will notify you in 3-4 weeks if we are unable to get this title for you. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 2-5-Florian again displays his significant skill at wordplay in this companion to Winter Eyes (1999) and Summersaults (2002, both Greenwillow). Using simple rhyme schemes; invented words such as "autumnatically," "owlphabet," "fallicopters" (maple seeds); and descriptive spellings ("hi-bear-nation," "industree"), he demonstrates that reading and writing can be lots of fun. His poems call to mind all manner of things autumnal-falling leaves, cool days, ripe apples, frost-and of the feelings that go with them ("-autumn leaves/Leave me in awe"). The childlike style of the various-sized watercolor and colored-pencil paintings (in fall colors, of course) mirrors the creative style of the age group most inclined to read the poetry. A natural for use in classrooms and library programs, and accessible to newly... |
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Bing Bang Boing |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0140378243 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
The 150-plus poems and drawings collected in Douglas Florian's Bing Bang Boing speak to children's great fascinations, from the gleeful disgust of eating bugs to the jittery unrest of perhaps one day bumping into an unexpected monster. Yet it is Florian's creative wordplay that truly distinguishes this text. Take "Commas," for example: Do commas have mommas
Who teach them to pause
Who comfort and calm them
And clean their sharp claws?
Who tell them short stories
of uncommon commas
And send them to bed
in their comma pajamas? Bing Bang Boing is officially recommended for grades 4 to 6, but there is plenty in here for children as young as 5 years old, particularly thanks to Florian's exuberant black-and-white line drawings. While a few of the poems seem slanted for adults... |
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Handsprings |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060092815 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Florian continues to churn out clever poems accompanied by his spirited watercolor and colored-pencil artwork. Illustrations include a girl skateboarding on a green leaf, a boy doing handsprings, and a daisy with a smiling face poking around a brick wall. He employs lots of playful phrases: Spring is great/For growing grass./Spring has zing/And spring has sass and The March wind rattles/And skedaddles. There is one nimble concrete poem titled Rain Reign and another selection called Ten Things To Do When It Rains: -¦Surf the net./Build a jet./Or go outside and get wet. The format will be familiar to fans of Summersaults (2002), Autumnblings (2003), and Winter Eyes (1999, all HarperCollins), with plenty of white space framing muddy, childlike illustrations and simple, clear print. These... |
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Handsprings |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060092807 |
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| Availability: |
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From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Florian continues to churn out clever poems accompanied by his spirited watercolor and colored-pencil artwork. Illustrations include a girl skateboarding on a green leaf, a boy doing handsprings, and a daisy with a smiling face poking around a brick wall. He employs lots of playful phrases: Spring is great/For growing grass./Spring has zing/And spring has sass and The March wind rattles/And skedaddles. There is one nimble concrete poem titled Rain Reign and another selection called Ten Things To Do When It Rains: -¦Surf the net./Build a jet./Or go outside and get wet. The format will be familiar to fans of Summersaults (2002), Autumnblings (2003), and Winter Eyes (1999, all HarperCollins), with plenty of white space framing muddy, childlike illustrations and simple, clear print. These... |
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In The Swim |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152024379 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
Even the most educated marine biologist could learn something from this whimsical, beautifully illustrated collection of 21 poems about sea life. Some of the poems are pure silly fun ("There are uglier fish than a blennie-- / But not many."), and others are gracefully infiltrated with animal facts ("Did you know the ocean's oysters / Sometimes change from girls to boysters?"). Douglas Florian, whose Beast Feast and On the Wing received high praise, accompanies each of his delightful poems with a stunning watercolor painting. In addition to capturing the liquid blur of an underwater world, the illustrations incorporate subtle visual jokes; for example, the salmon are doing the high jump, and the seahorses are wearing saddles. It's no fish story--Florian's combination of intelligent, funny... |
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Summersaults |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060292679 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 3-4 days. |
Book Review
It's summertime, and if you're a kid, the living can be very easy indeed. Douglas Florian's ode to the simmering, shimmering, sizzling, fizzling, flaming season of sun places every reader smack dab in the middle of a summer day (or night), with all its resident fireflies, cartwheels, green frogs, and sidewalk scooters. This companion volume to Florian's award-winning Winter Eyes celebrates summer with 48 short poems and accompanying watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. In "Bees," a child pithily reports: I'm pleased by bees
Except for one thing:
The sting.
Against a brilliant yellow green grassy background, a redheaded boy sits placidly reading inside mosquito netting, half a dozen bees buzzing longingly nearby. Swarming with humor and honesty about barefoot days, humid nights, and ... |
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On The Wing |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152023666 |
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From Booklist
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. This colorful collection features 21 poems about a variety of birds, from hummingbird to vulture, roadrunner to emperor penguin. The imagery in these short poems finds visual expression in the full-page, watercolor paintings, illustrating verse with high spirits and ingenuous charm. "The Hawk" features a bordered illustration of the bird with binoculars slung over his shoulders. Across the page are the words: "I stare / I glare / I gaze / I gawk / With keen / Mean eyes / I am the hawk. / All day I pray / For prey to view. / Be thankful if / I don't / See / YOU!" Many of the poems use internal rhyme effectively, but the book's appeal lies in its fluent wordplay and generous use of humor in both the poetry and the paintings. Carolyn Phelan
--This text refers to the... |
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Summersaults |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Hardcover |
| ISBN: |
0060292687 |
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| Availability: |
Ships within 2-3 days. |
Book Review
It's summertime, and if you're a kid, the living can be very easy indeed. Douglas Florian's ode to the simmering, shimmering, sizzling, fizzling, flaming season of sun places every reader smack dab in the middle of a summer day (or night), with all its resident fireflies, cartwheels, green frogs, and sidewalk scooters. This companion volume to Florian's award-winning Winter Eyes celebrates summer with 48 short poems and accompanying watercolor and colored pencil illustrations. In "Bees," a child pithily reports: I'm pleased by bees
Except for one thing:
The sting.
Against a brilliant yellow green grassy background, a redheaded boy sits placidly reading inside mosquito netting, half a dozen bees buzzing longingly nearby. Swarming with humor and honesty about barefoot days, humid nights, and ... |
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Laugh-Eteria |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0141309903 |
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| Availability: |
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Book Review
Kids will find plenty to chuckle over in Douglas Florian's punchline-rich Laugh-eteria, his seventh poetry offering after walloping successes like Bing Bang Boing and Insectlopedia. Well loved for his shameless punnery, Florian never hesitates to manipulate the language to suit his whim: "Graffiti, graffiti, / On sidewalk and streeti, / On glass and concreeti, / And on subway seati," begins one poem. Some of his verse rhymes quite neatly, such as this stanza from "Don't Drag a Dragon": "Don't drag a dragon by its tooth. / To drag it such is most uncouth, / Discourteous, and impolite, / And it will eat you in one bite." "What I'd Like to Share" bounces jauntily as well: "I'd like to share a nasty cold / And all my clothing that's too old. / I'd like to share a rotten chore. / Perhaps you'd like to the sweep the floor?" Other... |
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Monster Motel |
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| Author: |
Douglas Florian |
Book Review
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| Format: |
Paperback |
| ISBN: |
0152013865 |
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| Availability: |
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From Publishers Weekly
PW said that this collection of poems and paintings about monsters has "a soupcon of Dr. Seuss's wackiness and a dollop of Jack Prelutsky's humor." Ages 4-8. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-- In the introductory poem, a bellhop greets readers: "Welcome to the Monster Motel,/ Where mostly monstrous monsters dwell." Each of the remaining 13 poems describes a different resident. Florian's creatures are, however, gentle and bizarre rather than scary. Some of the more interesting ones are those that might exist almost anywhere. "The Gazzygoo," for instance, lives inside the cracks of a sidewalk. Others, such as "The Fabled Feerz" and "The Brilly," are bigger and bolder. The language and the images are creative and... |
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