Edward Koren (1935–2023)

This book is really playful and goofy, but it is something that will surely grab children's attention. There is some insanely relatable things for kids to resinate with. It is can work as a sort of motivation for kids to actually way to cleans their room. Books like this make boring activities like cleaning your room exciting.

Okay, once again just to make sure we're all on the same page: do not give your book a title that can be used against you in a review. You would think editors would be the first to understand the rules of making a book review-proof. Of course, it's also a good idea to make sure the content followed the same rules, not just the title.

Katz is no Shel Silverstein (he's not even Jack Prelutsky), but so much about this book feels like that's what the guilty parties were trying for. This 179 pages show more of short, silly poetry accompanied by line drawings is squarely aimed at those who have worn out their copies of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "It's Raining Pigs and Noodles."

All the usual topics are covered -- too much TV, failing grades, turns of phrases, wordplay -- but so much of it falls flat. Rhymes and near-rhymes have the feel of having being culled from a reference book with the rest of the poem built awkwardly around them. There are ways to break the meter within a poem, and then there are just broken feet. And some of these poems seemed designed to deliver a punchline but don't have the substance to prop them up. I think there's a picture-book's-worth of poems here that are good -- maybe a couple dozen or so -- and the rest reads like contractual filler.

I know kids in their poetry phase can't ever get enough of the humorous verse, and this will easily break up the monotony of rereading the same six or seven books for this crowd, but I don't suspect it will get the same level of repeat readings.

Question: where are the women poets who write volumes of humorous poetry? Is nonsense considered the province of male poets, and is this why boys stop reading poetry? show less

While I was reading this book, I could not help but laugh. This book brought back many memories from when I was young, getting yelled at by my parents to clean my room and that "Just throwing them in the closet does not mean it is clean!!". I also found the illustrations very intriguing. It is almost as if the randomness and messy lines showcased how messy the room was. This would make a wonderful writing model, as it is a list and uses different sentence structures. I love this book!

Cute book. It was not at all what I expected. I was browsing ebooks from my library and saw this. I assumed it was geared towards tween, with advice on how to tackle cleaning a room. But it is a picture book, geared towards the early grades and it is FUNNY. Advising kids to shove everything under the bed, in the closet, etc. It reminds me a lot of [b:How to Eat Like a Child: And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up|408106|How to Eat Like a Child And Other Lessons in Not Being a show more Grown-up|Delia Ephron|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174500994s/408106.jpg|574141], though that one was geared towards adults! If you have small kids, they will enjoy this, and you will enjoy sharing the story with them. show less