Awful Ogre's Awful Day

This gem of a book is filled with unimaginably gross concepts (undoubtedly means kids will find it hysterical) described in catchy rhyme and rhythm. As we follow Awful Ogre through his daily routine, the fantastical illustrations depict each story detail and perfectly accompany the text. Rich vocabulary throughout make this a treasure trove for word study. Another application would be to use it as a character study of Awful Ogre--many details of his personality are given explicitly and others are possible to infer.

Awful Ogre is so awful, his name is Awful Ogre! This collection of funny and disgusting poems takes us through a typical day in the life of Awful Ogre. He wakes up (scattering rats and getting bit by his pet piranha), eats a disgusting breakfast (with gargoyle bile), and generally creates havoc, but also has time to pen a love letter to an ogress (“I cherish the touch of your sandpaper hands”). Kids will love being grossed out by the ogre, and the rhythm of the poetry is perfect for reading aloud. Grades 1-3.

I really enjoyed this book for three reasons. First, I loved the illustrations. They are full of different colors and details. The way the ogre is portrayed helps the reader visualize what is going on in each poem. Each picture really shows exactly what is going on in the poem. I also really like the plot of the story. The book starts out when the ogre is beginning his day. Each poem goes through a different event in the ogre's life. I also really like the way that the book is set up. While each page is a new poem, they still flow together to help the reader get a good picture of who the ogre is. I think it is funny how the things he loves would be terrible for a normal person, and the things he hates would be great for a normal person. show more The main idea of this book is that one man's trash can be another man's treasure. show less

This collection of poems about the awful day of Awful Ogre, a disgusting and lovable monster with funny habits and adventures will gross readers out and keep them reading at the same time.

Each poem could function independently, but they appear to be intended to be read as a collection. The poems are chronological -- starting with one about Awful Ogre's morning routine, following him through the day, and ending with his nighttime dreams.

The poet uses rhythm, rhyme, sound, and language to create a character whose antics are both repulsive and endearing. The detailed, exaggerated illustrations perfectly match the text of the poems so that even readers who may not be familiar with words like "ogre" or "flora" will know what is happening in show more the poems.

The language is the only attribute of the book that might give readers some trouble. While Prelutsky's command of the English language and ability to use interesting words certainly lends to the poetic appeal of this collection, the vocabulary he uses does not always match the intended audience. While this can certainly be used as an opportunity to build readers' (or listeners') vocabulary, the plethora of long, potentially unfamiliar words (i.e. "cudgel," "magnanimity," "statuesque," "pendulous," etc.) might alienate young readers.

Highly recommended for elementary libraries. show less

This book goes through a typical "awful" day for an Ogre and all the funny things that happen to him along the way but instead of classic narrative the author has chosen to use poetry. I thought this was a very clever way to read poetry to younger children. The poems themselves are funny and creative and incite reaction from the children as they are being read to them. At times I felt that they were a little long and wordy, although this may have been to facilitate the rhyming.
What stands out the most about this book is the artwork by Paul O. Zelinsky. He is one of my new favorite illustrators and I really love all of the details that he includes in these illustrations. Many of them are so clever that they are not even part of the show more poems. Each image is fun to examine all by itself and made the children I read it to laugh at every page turn. show less

I believe that boys of any age would love this book because it has some phrases that are kind of gross and very funny. I also think students in kindergarten or first grade would love to hear this story as a read aloud because of the pictures, humor, and rhyme scheme. This book could be used in kindergarten as a mentor text to teach about different types of texts, in particular poetry. This could also be used in second or third grade to discuss how the rhyme scheme contributes to the rhythm and meaning of the story. There are also a lot of in depth vocabulary words, some of which even I did not know the definition for, such as cudgel. You could use this book with third or fourth grade to teach using context clues in order to determine show more the meaning of words you do not know. show less

Jack Prelutsky’s collection of poems in Awful Ogre’s Awful Day describes a day in the life of Awful Ogre from his morning routine through bedtime. Being the most awful ogre, Awful Ogre is self-confident and magnanimous towards other creatures’ reactions to his more disgusting habits. Prelutsky’s rhymes generally follow a simple ABAC pattern, but he does not shy away from more advanced vocabulary such as “carnivorous,” “scrofulous,” and “profusely.” Paul Zelinsky’s drawings do a remarkably good job of illustrating the more horrible implications of Awful Ogre’s habits, up to and including gargoyle bile. This book will be very popular with grade school boys, and some of the shorter poems would illicit plenty of show more giggles during story time. Despite the general grossness, Awful Ogre does not actually do anything very awful and is actually quite polite within his cultural standard. This would be a good purchase for public or grade school media libraries that want to add to their boy-attracting items to their collection. show less