Zany food rhymes and humorous portraits of bagels and bananas are the special of the day in this new collaboration from Aylesworth and Gammell (previously teamed for Old Black Fly). The 23 catchy verses feature personality-packed edible stars, dilemmas that turn on the food's trademark characteristics and loads of goofy puns. " `You're pretty!' said an orange/ To a lemon who seemed pleased./ `In fact, my dear, so pretty,/ You're at risk of getting squeezed!' " Gammell's fruits and vegetables resemble the California Raisins (to whom the book is dedicated), with tiny arms and legs and squished-together facial features particularly well-suited for registering surprise. He has even more fun rendering the personal crises of his subjects, painting rowdy cookies who disintegrate when they attack a bagel and gooey sticky cinnamon buns who cannot enjoy even the simplest pleasures of social interaction: " `We can't shake hands!' `No, never!'/ `Simple hugs just can't be done!'/ `And should we bump together,/ Oh, my, no, that's never fun!' " The chunky blocks of text share center stage with the smoothly paced images, enhancing the book's visual punch; brushstroked poem titles seem to drip along with the ketchup and mustard. Youngsters will enjoy finding out what the denizens of your neighborhood diner do after the waitresses turn out the lights and go home for the night. Ages 5-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Burgers and hot dogs get into brawls, an ice cream bar stranded at the beach turns to nothing more than a stick--such are the misadventures of various foods in AylesworthÆs collection of poems, illustrated with GammellÆs powerfully elemental multimedia art. As humorous verse, the poems sometimes fall flat, but some achieve witty turns through clever set-ups. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 2 Up-An uneven collection of humorous poems featuring foods such as a lemon so pretty she is in danger of getting squeezed, and a shy hard-boiled egg named Betty who is having difficulty coming out of her shell. Lines like "Two pickles went out dancing:/She a gherkin, he a dill" resound with a cadence reminiscent of Jack Prelutsky, but many others are awkwardly constructed. Take the case of an angel cake in Kansas who calls up her boyfriend, "`Come take me out to dinner,'/Is, in short, just what she said." There is some clever wordplay-the slogan of a band comprised of vegetables is: "The Band with a Beet," but a punch line relying on a reference to wax bananas will go over the heads of the intended audience. The exaggerated heads and distorted bodies give a Mr. Potatohead look to the food caricatures. The colored-pencil, watercolor, and pastel illustrations are effective in depicting various dripping and melting dishes, but the scatter-paint effect lends a frenetic feel to the art. This book may elicit chuckles and inspire some creative-writing efforts, but classic collections, such as William Cole's Poem Stew (Lippincott, 1981), contain better poetry.-Caroline Ward, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kids who devour poems by Silverstein and Prelutsky will sink their teeth into this collection of poetry featuring a banquet of fanciful food characters. There's a teacher named Frankie Fish Stick, pungent cheeses named Woodrow and Wanda, and a couple of eager eggs named Yack and Yimmy (two very "yolly guys," who are-naturally-full of funny "yolks"). Aylesworth (The Tale of Tricky Fox, 2001, etc.) includes lots of favorite foods in his 23 rhyming poems: pizza, bagels, cake, pickles, even chewing gum. Several poems convey subtle lessons about behavior, as in "Nellie and Bill," the story of a sweet pickle who is a more pleasant friend than her sourpuss dill pickle companion. Some poems are pure dessert, as in "Veggie Soup," the story of a country/western band with Bo Beet on fiddle and Tex Tater on guitar, or the title poem, which has a soda breaking up a fight and threatening to kick the participants in the buns. Creative teachers will find lots of ways to integrate these poems into the classroom, especially to liven up lessons on nutrition and the food pyramid. The final poem, "Up to You," encourages young readers to write their own poems about "food folks." Caldecott Medalist Gammell (Ride, p. 258, etc.) has cooked up a batch of humorous, mixed-media illustrations in a loose, washy style, using coffee for the brown tones for additional thematic flavor. (Poetry. 5-9)

Ages 5-8. The rhymes are lame in this collection of poems, and some of the jokes will appeal more to adults than kids, but the combination of food and nonsense is irresistible and the words and pictures are loaded with puns. There's an overdressed pizza, an angel cake, and a shy hard-boiled egg that won't come out of her shell, even when she's invited to dance by a friendly French toast guy. Gammell's splashy watercolors wallow in the mess, whether it's a double-page spread of two smelly, lonely cheeses who fall in love, or as in the uproarious title poem, a hot dog insults a burger by calling him "flat," and the soda tells them both to stop it or "I will kick you in the buns!" After that, kids may be ready to take up Aylesworth's challenge on the last page and write their own food farce. --Hazel Rochman