Friday, January 16, 2009

Poetry Friday: Starred Review!

Illustration (detail) and poem Copyright 2009 Douglas Florian
Tyrannosaurus rex
Ty-ran-oh-SAW-rus REX (king of tyrant lizards)
Some 40-feet long.
Some 14-feet tall.
Its back limbs were strong.
Its front limbs were small.
Its eyesight was keen.
Its hunger voracious.
This creature was seen
In times called Cretaceous.
Its jaws were horrific.
Its profile distinct.
I find it terrific
That it’s T-rex-tinct.
.
My great editor, Andrea, just told me that Dinothesaurus is getting a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Yay!
*Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings
Douglas Florian. S&S/Atheneum,$17.99(56p) ISBN 978-1-4169-7978-4
Florian’s free-flowing, witty collection of poems and collages about dinosaurs is a giganotosaurus delight—perhaps his best work ever. The poems marry facts with a poet’s eye for detail: the Brachiosaurus was “longer than a tennis court” and the Ankylosaurus says, “We like spikes and we like scutes/ (Bony plates we wear as suits).” Small experts will appreciate the “Glossarysaurus” at the end, but the heart of the book is in its humor, the spontaneity of both illustrations and poems, and Florian’s slightly askew view of the Mesozoic creatures. A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton spews cutout images of things a T. rex might actually have eaten, along with a tumble of other things (newspaper clippings, a boot, a building), while the text ends with a great pun (“I find it terrific/ That it’s T-rex-tinct.”). The tiny (20-inch) Micropachycephalosaurus stares up at a huge display of his enormous name spelled out phonetically, in illuminated caps and as a rhombus. Art and text will encourage aspiring paleontologists and poets to parse these pages again and again. Ages 6–up. (Mar.)

21 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

This is a great one! I love the illustration too.

Kat

Nanny said...

T-rex-cellent!!!

Elaine Magliaro said...

Douglas,

I can't wait for this book to be published. I've already pre-ordered two copies.

melanie hope greenberg said...

Congratulations! A whole galaxy of stars for you.

Kelly Polark said...

Love it! My son will so enjoy this, he wants to go to the Field Museum to see the dinosaur bones and this is a must read before or after that trip!
Congrats on the great review, Douglas!

Yat-Yee said...

Yay for the starred review!

Anonymous said...

Heartiest congratulations on the PW star, Douglas!

jama said...

WooHoo!! Congrats on the starred review. Yay for you :)

Kat Mortensen said...

Excellent review! I love your puns.

Kat

Julie said...

Congratulations, Douglas - well-deserved!

Douglas Florian said...

Thank you Poetikat, Nanny, Elaine, melanie, Kelly, Yat-Yee, Pat, Jama, Poetikat again, and Julie!

raffy said...

Grrrrrreat!

Unknown said...

Douglas, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I am so happy for you.

laurasalas said...

Congratulations on the star! Fabulous!

Cat Herself said...

I can't wait to see this book in person - it looks wonderful (just like your other work!)

This one will have to go in our "own it home" collection, as we are all Florian fans as well as Dino-lovers.

Unknown said...

Douglas,
Congrats for Dinothesaurus:
Prehistoric Poems and Paintings' Starred Review being featured in today's PW's Children's Bookshelf
http://www.publishersweekly.com/eNewsletter/CA6631457/2788.html

Douglas Florian said...

Thanks for the link, Jill.
Also thanks to Cat (such a cool jumping icon!!), Laura, and Rrrrrrrrrrraffy.

Vivian Mahoney said...

Congratulations! This looks fantastic!

Vivian Mahoney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BookMoot said...

Fantastic! Dinosaurs! Yessss!

Carol said...

I just won this book in a contest on Kelly Polark's blog. It came today and I reviewed it for POETRY FRIDAY on my blog (www.carolwscorner.blogspot.com) tonight! It deserves five stars. It's terrific!