CET Writes

Image from  amazon.com As a matter of full disclosure, please be aware that I was gifted a free electronic copy of this book to review. Serena the Sailboat is a charming tale about a day’s adventure involving the protagonist and her friends Simon Seagull and Danny Dolphin. After parading through the harbor and bidding their friends a joyous farewell, the trio head out to sea for a day of fun in the sun; however, their outing turns perilous when a storm rolls in and Serena fears that the gale may breach her hull. Recognizing the power of their collective strength, the friends find a safe harbor where they can weather the storm together. In Serena the Sailboat , Laura Thomae Young crafts a sweet, gentle story in verse while Raina M. Tubba’s illustrations extend the fun sing-song rhyme of Young’s quatrains in a friendly style that will make a good read for pre-kindergarten children ages 3-5. Furthermore, fans of Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, and classics from the Little Golden Boo...

Image from amazon.com Self-aware from the opening endpages to its closing endpages, Rex’s second volume of Frankensteinian verse is simultaneously the gift and the curse--a paean to the horror fiction of the past two centuries as well as a lyrical skewering of it. Because of the rather broad body of work to which it alludes, younger readers may enjoy and understand the poetry only superficially, while an older audience with exposure to Godzilla, King Kong, the Wizard of Oz, vampires, werewolves, E.T., Alfred Hitchcock, and Edgar Allen Poe will have a much richer experience. While the overarching narrative is that of preparations for the nuptials of the creation and his made-to-order bride, in the tradition of Monty Python’s Flying Circus many digressions are made, some of which are returned to repeatedly. Each segment, no matter its initial appearance, is a poem. These verses come disguised as a letter, sequential art, blog posts, a post card, and even as an advertisement with it...

Although published in crisp black and white, former  Playboy  correspondent Silverstein’s classic collection of poems and drawings  Where the Sidewalk Ends  fairly explodes with colorful language of the kid-friendly sort. Taken by themselves, the poems range in length from a handful of lines up to three pages, and in breadth from a single amusing thought to a narrative arc or a song’s worth of lyrics. Common childhood themes of disobedience to parental and educational authority, trouble with siblings, chores and fanciful play are addressed in a characteristically irreverent manner, with frequent digressions into pure fantasy and fun. Never crossing over into the excessively precious or maudlin, Silverstein prefers to stick to a more self-conscious and unsentimental tone, gleefully exploring the macabre and outright disgusting topics frequented by children. On nearly every last opening, the text of the verses shares space with Silverstein’s expressive and loos...