Friday, May 05, 2006

Poetry Friday/Review


This week's Poetry Friday entry doubles as a review.

Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie comes with the following author information: "A revolting rhyme by Judy Sierra with delicious drawings by Edward Koren." Actually, the rhymes are pretty darn delicious too. Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie is a fabulously funny (and disgusting in just the right way) rhymer for the pre-school set.

Using There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly as inspiration, Thelonius Monster's Sky-High Fly Pie begins as follows:
Thelonius Monster
once swallowed a fly,
and decided that flies would taste
grand in a pie.
That silly guy!

My favorite stanza actually comes next. It's accompanied by an extremely clever drawing of Thelonius sending off an e-mail to ARACHNID@spider.net:

Thelonius urgently
e-mailed a spider:
He wanted advice from a savvy insider
"You'll need something sticky" was her reply.
"To catch a fly."

So, Thelonius Monster makes a sticky crust and goes about the smelliest of places attracting flies to his crust. In the end, he has a fly-filled pie. There's a pretty funny complication, though, and one I don't want to spoil for the readers. Suffice it to say that Thelonius Monster is a hilarious read-aloud and will be much appreciated by kids who like dumpsters, sewers, manure, and monsters. A sure-fire hit.
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Other Poetry Friday contributions this week: An original composition from Susan at Chicken Spaghetti, Becky at Farm School shares a little Phyllis McGinley, A Fuse #8 Productions reviews Carnival of the Animals for Poetry Friday, Michele at Scholar's Blog continues to enjoy spring with A.E. Housman, and Melissa Wiley shares the (very good) work of a twelve-year-old girl over at Here in the Bonny Glen. If I've missed anyone, please drop me a comment.

More contributors! Liz at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy gives us some Lord Byron, Wendy contributes a Spanish poem from Pio Peep in honor of Cinco de Mayo at Blog from the Windowsill, and Christine serves up classic A.A. Milne at The Simple and the Ordinary.