The Underwear Salesman: And Other Jobs for Better or Verse

This silly, raucous book features hilariously zany poems about all sorts of jobs, including gardener, Queen of England, banana picker, dictionary maker, bicycle champion, belly dancer, bubble bath tester, librarian, and even poet. The short poems are full of puns and silly jokes, which will appeal to kids of all ages, and are visually varied; the poems’ forms an integral part of the meaning. Students will giggle at the silliness and at the droll digital collages by illustrator Serge Bloch. Recommended for grades 2-6.

Curriculum: this book would make a terrific read aloud during a poetry unit, and as a model text for teaching concrete poetry and humorous poetry. Children could create equally silly professions and write poems to share show more about them.

Lewis, J.P. (2009). The underwear salesman and other jobs for better or verse. (S. Bloch, Illus.). New York: Atheneum Book for Young Readers. show less

J. Patrick Lewis's "The Underwear Salesman" is a collection of silly poems about different jobs. The poems rhyme and many make kids laugh out loud. The illustrations that go along are mixed media with pencil drawing, real objects, water colors and collage.
Many of these poems would be funny for young children. Many would need some explaining either about vocabulary in the poem or about the job itself. For example, many students would not know enough about the queen of England to understand the poem about her. This could be used to add humor to a unit on what students want to be when they grow up. Another way to do use this book would be to have students make up silly rhyming poems about classroom jobs and illustrate them similar to show more Lewis's work. show less

I think this is a good book for any age group. The older kids would love the jokes within the story as well as hearing about the many careers. The younger kids would also love the jokes and the rhyme scheme, which would be especially obvious during a read aloud. You could use this as a mentor text in a third grade classroom to teach how to use nonliteral language to create a more humorous writing piece. You could also use this book in a kindergarten or first grade classroom to discuss the many different characters and occupations, what they do, and which one they liked best or may be interested in doing some day.

This book is just overall fun! The illustration is fun and fulls of doodle that add humor to the poetry. This would be a great book to introduce poetry and getting children to write their own poetry on whatever subjects they deemed fit.

Fun fun fun!! Each of the poems in this witty collection is about a different job. From fashion designer to plumber to banana picker to Queen of England, this book is about all sorts of jobs. It also features all sorts of poems. Haikus, limericks, and more. Colorful mixed-media illustrations accompany the poems and add to their whimsy. I'm not a huge poetry fan, but I loved this book and kids will love it, too!

This book creeped me out. One reason I didn't like it was because of the illustrations. They are totally scary. On the page about the exterminator and the butcher, there's a drawing of a spider with giant eyes. I think I'll have nightmares for days about that picture.
Another reason I didn't like it was because of the title font. Just like I Invited A Dragon to Dinner, the font perfectly matches the pictures. In this case, not in a good way. It's totally creepy.
The main idea of this book is to teach kids about different careers in verse.

I enjoyed the playfulness of this collection of poems about different types of jobs.