POETRY PICTURE BOOK - Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems by Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian

Illustrated by Jeremy Holmes

2014, Schwartz & Wade Books

HC $17.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.14

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers: Dark brown tire treads on another deep brown

Illustrations: "rendered in pencil and watercolor, then digitally colored (I wish I knew what that means!)

Giant Bookmobile of Tomorrow

I am a very moving van.

Driver: he's the Gingerbread Man.

Fuel: imagination power.

Speed: a dozen aisles per hour.

Whether it be comic strips,

Poetry at your fingertips,

Picture books or trivia,

The Wizard of Oz, Olivia,

My bookmobile has just one goal:

To entertain on cruise control.

but kids get on at every block

And I forget to watch the clock.

So if my van is "overdue,"

It's okay if you are too.

    

        J. Patrick Lewis

Balloon Car

My dadddy drives a car that floats

an inch aabove the street --

a hundred colorful balloons

tied to a bucket seat.

And once he blows his xar up,

Daddy never wants to stop.

But boy, does he get made at me

When I call out -- "Hey POP!"

J. Patrick Lewis

My comments:  This book of crazy, wacky poems is just plain fun.  I plan to use it as a writing starter/prompt with my fourth graders....read them a poem without sharing the illustration, get them to sketch what they see in their minds eye from the words alone, then share the illustration.  I can see the writing continuing on from there...some of my clever kids will fly!

Goodreads: The U.S. Children's Poet Laureate and an award-winning children's poet join their prolific forces in this picture book of poems about cars. But they're not just any cars: there's the "Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy" ("So unique there is no copy"); the Bathtub Limosine ("With hot water heating / And porcelain seating"); and the "High Heel Car." Each of the thirteen quirky, inventive poems will speak directly to the imaginations of children, as will Holmes's high-concept, detail-filled illustrations.