Tag nonsense

I’m Just No Good At Rhyming

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I’m Just No Good at Rhyming
Chris Harris, illustrated by Lane Smith
Two Hoots

Television writer/producer Chris Harris teams up with Greeenaway medal winner, Lane Smith in this riotous book of nonsense verse.
The first thing I should say, actually, it’s the second, is, take no notice of the title: Harris is telling enormous porkies; the only non-rhyming offerings are those made deliberately so.
In all there are over one hundred zany compositions, most of which will make you want to laugh out loud; almost all of which are illustrated; and every one of which is imbued with a sense of playfulness.

There’s wordplay in abundance: here’s the briefest entitled The Gecko, ‘If ever I find myself holding a gecko … / I’ll lecko.’

Typography is used to effect, for instance when ‘d’ and ‘b’ have a showdown in The Duel ending up as ‘p’ and ‘q’. There are riddles, parodies of nursery rhymes, and, perhaps surprisingly – but then everything is pretty surprising in this book – some introspective verses: ‘I’m shy on the outside, but inside my head? / I’m not at all shy – I’m outgoing instead.’ …

The downright irreverent appears too: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – / I took the one less travelled by … / Since then I’ve been completely lost. / Thanks for nothing, Robert Frost!’

Author and illustrator even have a go at one another (possibly on account of Smith’s Alphabet Book visuals)

‘I must confess I don’t like my poems’ illustrator. They told me, “Lane is great!” but man, I really think I hate her!’ Harris rails (he can’t even get Smith’s gender right). But Smith counters with this portrait …

One poem that particularly spoke to the teacher part of me was The Secret of My Art reminding us of all the dangers of appearing to know about, or judge, children’s art. Here it is:

“It’s a beautiful whale,” my teacher declared.
“This drawing will get a gold star!”

“It’s a beautiful whale,” my father declared.
“Your talents will carry you far!’

“It’s a beautiful whale,” my mother declared.
“What a wonderful artist you are!”

Well maybe it is a beautiful whale …
But I was trying to draw a guitar.

A brilliant collaboration and definitely a sure-fire winner for those who already love poetry, but perhaps more importantly, for those who claim to hate it. A sterling successor to the likes of Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky and Dr Seuss.Every classroom and home needs a copy.

Hic! / An Indian Beach by Day and Night

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Hic!
Anushka Ravishankar and Christiane Pieper
Tara Books
I’m a big fan of Tara Books for many reasons; two of the most important being first: they’re unfailingly innovative and the production quality is always exemplary; second: their base is Chennai, and I’m a total India freak.
Specialising in writing nonsense for children, the author of this picture book has been dubbed the Indian Dr Seuss and nonsense Hic! truly is.
Revolving around a little girl who is suddenly struck by a bout of hiccups – we all know how annoying they can be – she has concocted a totally crazy rhyme about ways she might, or might not, get rid of them.
Suggestions include the fairly un-risky daubing of mustard on your nose and trying to lick it; and shouting AWALLAGULLAGABUGGAMUGGCHICK!
Thereafter proceeding to vomit-inducing spinning round and round …

and standing on your head – a definite no-no for one so young, thinks the yoga teacher in me – to my favourite, potentially suicidal idea …

German illustrator Christiane Pieper supplies the hilarious visuals making the whole thing so much more than the sum of its parts; I love her restricted colour palette.
Another innovative offering from the same publisher is:

An Indian Beach By Day and Night
Joëlle Jolivet
Tara Books
In her wordless offering, based on her observations, artist Joëlle Jolivet takes us through twenty four hours on Elliot’s Beach, a location near the southern Indian city of Chennai.
Her linocut scenes, printed on a long, continuous strip that’s been carefully folded to fit inside a sturdy cover-cum wallet, can be viewed in folded form or opened right out to form a complete circle. (The back pocket flap shows the various ways the book can be opened to display the scenes.)
As day dawns on the first spread we see fishing boats on the shore while in the foreground, people are taking exercise, commuters travel in a cycle rickshaw while behind them on the sand animals feast on the discarded spoils of the fishermen.
Turn over and this is the scene …

As the day proceeds and the sun reaches its height, the crowds disperse, to return as daylight fades and evening comes. Darkness brings a temporary lull in activity until everything starts over the following dawn.
Printed only in black and white with a blue sea backdrop, this is a wonderful visual resource with a bounty of starting points for discussion and storying that can be enjoyed as it is, or coloured in.

I Lost My Sock! / Fruits in Suits

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I Lost My Sock!
P.J.Roberts and Elio
Abrams Appleseed
Subtitled ‘A Matching Mystery’ this begins with Fox’s declaration, “I lost my sock!” Ox, despite the fact his pal is sporting its pair, asks what it’s like. The dopey-seeming Ox then goes on to produce several unmatching sockish articles of a variety of patterns and sizes for the increasingly frustrated Fox.

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A parcel and a rock are then proffered and rejected before a totally undaunted Ox comes up with a lorry load of socks, tips the entire contents out and proceeds to hunt for the match, without success.
Eventually Ox gives up and is about to depart when BINGO! Fox spots the sock …

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There then ensues a dispute over the ownership of the blue-dotted article. Ox maintains it’s his brand new, perfectly fitting hat with a special handy place to keep his supply of oranges; oranges he cannot keep in his pocket because he doesn’t have one on account of not wearing any pants (trousers). PARDON!

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Ox’s crazy response educes a crazily considerate response from Fox who generously hands over his one remaining sock/hat: but that is not quite the end of this wonderfully foolish tale.
Crazy as it may be, this tale of misunderstanding and mismatching offers much to learn about friendship, and also about pattern, shape, size and colour, comparison and contrast. Elio’s exuberant, cartoon-like illustrations, with their geometric shapes, are terrific fun and Roberts’ equally amusing text, all in dialogue, is hugely enjoyable to read aloud. (The exchanges reminded me somewhat of Mo Willems’ heroes, Elephant and Piggie). It’s also ideal for those in the early stages of reading to try for themselves; share it first though.

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Fruits in Suits
Jared Chapman
Abrams Appleseed
It’s time for a swim, fruit style. First changed into appropriate gear is Strawberry, the narrator, in snazzy polka dot trunks, who then endeavours to persuade the business suited Grapefruit that what he’s wearing – suit though it may be – is totally inappropriate for taking a dip in the pool. Other fruits duly dress suitably – pardon the pun – in one- or two-piece bathing attire (although the word swimsuit’ is never mentioned). After a ridiculous exchange culminating in “BUT I’M WEARING A SUIT!” the near-exasperated Strawberry eventually produces a pair of large trunks and finally …

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whereupon the infant Pomegranate throws caution to the wind and takes a leap in the buff …
This final action caused a giggle on behalf of my young reader who also enjoyed the whole nonsensical scenario.

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I Can Only Draw Worms

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I Can Only Draw Worms
Will Mabbitt
Puffin Books
Bonkers! A book that can reduce two adults to fits of helpless laughter on a dull day has got to be worth something: it’s what Will Mabbit’s foray into picture books did to one reviewer and her partner. It’s billed as ‘an unconventional counting book’ and it surely is that, and a whole lot more. In truth I suspect pretty much anybody can draw worms, but only Will Mabbitt could make quite such a ridiculously and gloriously silly book as this one with its day-glo pink and yellow annelids wriggling all over it. Yes we’ve had wormy books before: Janet Ahlberg’s The Worm Book, Superworm from Julia Donaldson and Leo Lionni’s Inch by Inch to name but three; but nobody (to my knowledge) has given the reason, as the title proclaims, for devoting their entire picture book to them. In fact there is absolutely nothing else between the covers other than words of course. Other characters do crop up though; Worm SIX, is said to be ‘riding on a flying unicorn!’ Of course, no unicorn appears (you just have to imagine); instead, guess what? Mabbitt has drawn worm FIVE again. Hmm …

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and then has the audacity to go on to relate that worm SIX actually rides this unicorn off to meet the seventh worm who lives um, in outer space.
This Mabbitt guy clearly doesn’t know his cardinal numbers from his ordinal ones though, at least where worms are concerned (and as for whole and half numbers, let’s not even go there. If you doubt what I say then listen to this bit: ‘THERE’s BEEN A DREADFUL ACCIDENT.’ That whole thing about cutting a worm in half and getting two worms has just been disproved OUCH!: instead, all you get is two half worms … like this …

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Moreover, worm NINE has gone AWOL to the concern of the others (won’t even try counting them as I’ll get bogged down in the halves and wholes thingy.) Next, more craziness in the way of an identity mix-up and then along comes number 10 worm. And he (actually Will, take note, worms are hermaphrodite) is accompanied by the missing number NINE (back from that urgent loo break). Now let the counting proper – or rather, almost proper – begin …

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That’s it.
Sunglasses out and off you wiggle, and giggle! I’m off out to dig worms; but that’s another story …

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The Nonsense Show

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The Nonsense Show
Eric Carle
Puffin Books
Eric Carle’s latest, brilliantly playful book pays homage to surrealism and in particular, René Magritte.   Herein he creates a topsy- turvy world: ‘Welcome friends!/ Don’t be slow./ Step right up to/ The Nonsense Show!’ urges the rabbit magician on the first spread and thus we’re entranced by the sight of that rabbit clutching a boy he’s presumably pulled out of the hat.
From then on we encounter a series of supremely silly scenarios: crazy rhyming text and preposterous pictures such as …

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Transport – of sorts – features in:

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And …

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Did I spot a counting opportunity there?
It’s impossible to choose a favourite spread: every one delivers delight and a surprise but among my favourites are the mouse chasing a feathery-looking cat and that bathtub rubber duck trotting through the water on its be-trousered human legs …

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Right from his wonderful cover, Eric Carle guarantees to provoke giggles, nay laughter and the grand finale proffers a plethora of possible descriptions of this whole absurd, other world.

 

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It’s a world that some adults may baulk at but children, not so far from the world of nursery rhymes with its moon jumping cows and dishes running away with spoons, and gardens growing silver bells and cockle shells, will be more than ready to embrace Carle’s weird ideas; and imaginations sparked, try creating some of their own weird and wacky scenes with pictures and words.
Make sure that you don’t overlook Carle’s bonkers biography complete with photo, inside the back dust jacket: how eminently inventive that guy is.

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