Clever poems that play with language, letters, and grammar.

From "Introduction":
Today the thought occurred to me
That every book's an ABC
And every word you've ever met
Is made out of the alphabet.

"Just Think"

Locked inside the alphabet
Is ever word
That ever was
And every book
That never was
But will be.

See also: Shel Silverstein, Lynne Truss, Jack Prelutsky, Paul Janeczko ( )

While promising poems for language lovers, this collection goes beyond. It adds a pinch of humor, which will make even less enthusiastic language learners smile, at least, a time or two.

Not only does this collection promise poems surrounding language, it holds poems with titles to cover every letter of the alphabet. There are almost 60 poems in these pages, and while many do directly dance around things such as assonance or punctuation, others simply endear or poke fun. Word play meets clever twists and silliness, and still, there are even a couple deep thoughts in store. Each one is listed in a table of contents at the beginning of the book for easy search purposes.

Each page holds a poem with a fitting illustration. These are drawn in a manner, which keeps light-hearted thoughts near and helps to make the poems clear. The illustrations are simple, bright and bold, letting the poems themselves shine and stay at the forefront of each page.

Most of the poems are short, clever, and many poke fun. They are easy to read and digest, which makes them nice for even reluctant-poetry readers. While I wasn't a total fan of the very first poem, the rest were entertaining...which shows that there's something for everyone, and of course, not everyone will like every one. (No play on words intended) It's a light read, makes a nice read-aloud, and is a great way to add a bit of fun poetry in a class setting or for individual fun. I received an ARC and enjoyed this one quite a bit. ( )