It's Raining Pigs & Noodles

"My Parents have the Flu Today," and "I took a Sip of Water" are two of my favorite poems. This book will have you smiling, laughing, and wanting to read it over and over again. It is written and illustrated in a unique and fun way. Each poem is shapped to match the theme of the poem. Children will love this book. This is great book to have children read introducing poetry. Its very easy to read and will make kids really enjoy poetry.

I remember reading this as a kid and I loved all the poems in it. They're silly, fun, and creative. The images go great with each poem and are sketched out in pen with gray watercolor for shading. If kids can see how fun poetry can be, they may learn to like it more. Along with silly poems, the book teaches rhyme schemes and form and meter. It could be used for an assignment where students have to write their own poems.

This book written by Jack Prelutsky (Nationally Best-Selling Poet) and drawings by James Stevenson is a playful, lighthearted, and silly book filled with poems that will surely make kids laugh! The poems are goofy and full of kid-friendly words that will spark kids' imagination! I like how the poems are all different lengths- some are only a few lines while others expand to two pages. Some poems include people, while others feature animals. and some even include actions like the poem: Hiccup! Three of my favorite poems are, "Today was Not My Day at All", "I've turned into a Carrot", and "Waffles Give Me Sniffles". I think they are creative and funny and they made me smile. I think this book would be fun to read to students during a show more poetry unit or even as a "poem a day" for poetry month in April. I also think that the title will get kids interested in it-- It's Raining Pigs and Noodles! show less

There are two reasons why I like this book. First, Jack Prelutsky used writing that flows. He rhymes his words nicely making them flow off of the tip of your tongue as you read them. For example, "Assorted prunes and parrots are dropping from the sky, here comes a bunch of carrots and hippopotami." The words carrots and parrots rhyme perfectly making the whole sentence flow. Second, Jack Prelutsky uses descriptive language. I can almost imagine the frogs and hats that he says are pouring from the sky. He also uses a lot of vocabulary that young readers may not know, but can learn through his book. For example, "it's pouring frogs and hats, crystalanthemums and poodles, bananas, brooms, and cats." A lot of readers may not know what show more crystalanthemums are, but readers can teach themselves by referring to a dictionary to learn that crystalanthemums are a type of unusual flowers. The big idea of this book is to engage readers to be imaginative. show less

I think this collection of poems is great for children because they are short, clear, and incorporate humor. Humor is a major characteristic of Jack Prelutsky poems. Kids will enjoy these poems because they can relate to the subjects and are able to understand the jokes. He also uses made up words, which are good for teaching pronunciation. The rhyming helps young readers to guess what word is next. This expands on their sight word vocabulary. The only aspect I did not like was the large about of vocabulary that students are not familiar with and are not easy to define. The first line of one of the poems was “A fetching young gnu had a penchant for song.” I do not think any elementary student would be familiar with “fetching,” show more “gnu”, or “penchant,” nor would I be able to define them on the spot. Overall, I really enjoyed these short and funny poems and I would use this book in my future classroom. show less

Even elementary school students who hate poetry will enjoy Prelutsky's humorous poems. To wit:

See What Happened!

See what happened! Hapless Peter
turned into a parking meter.
On the curb he stands all day,
wishing dogs would go away.

This book is perfect for teacher's reading poetry to their classroom. It is good for children in 2nd grade and above. It has a lot of fun imagery and other devices in it as well. A really vibrant addition to the library.