Rebus Riot

From School Library Journal

“Grade 1-4. Clever, imaginative, and hilarious rebus-sprinkled poems about friends, animals, naughty children, valentines, and other varied topics. The tiny pictures include vocabulary-builders such as shallot, puffin, squid, and tapir, as well as more familiar vegetables, animals, and other objects. The book can be read aloud, but everyone must be close enough to see the little rebuses. Solutions appear in a full-page illustration opposite each selection, and the poems are written out at the end. All this fun is set out on double-page spreads of black-and-white scratchboard images transferred to paper and painted with watercolors. Although the figures are cartoonlike in technique, the scratchboard gives a texture and solidity to the illustrations, which are full of action and humor. Cowboy fish ride seahorses, toucans rhumba to exhaustion, dustbunnies march under the bed, and every reader, adults included, can have a hearty laugh.” Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA

Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

“Gr. 2-4. It's difficult to convey the fun of Christensen's rebus poetry, with its mix of words and art, in a review that can't show the visuals. The first line of "Fishy Business," for instance, is presented entirely through pictures: "(dog)+(fish), (cat)+(fish), (sun)+(fish), (whale) / None related to the snail." But rest assured, the clever rhymes exhibit an ingenuity and humor that will make children simultaneously laugh and wince: "I cannot (train) my monster pet. His (wagon) tail will kill me yet." Christensen adds to the fun by tying many of the rebuses together by theme: one will use pictures of foods, another pictures of transportation methods. Solutions are found at the back of the book, with the bouncy scratchboard background illustrations supplying lots of clues as well. Younger children who can enlist the help of a reader will enjoy decoding these rhymes, too.” Susan Dove Lempke

From Kirkus Reviews

“Rolling-on-the-floor laughter is sure to accompany this collection of wickedly funny rebus poems. Readers meet Crazy Daisy, learn how to train a pet monster, receive a valentine, and read about dustbunnies in poetry with bottomless kid-appeal. Puns and wordplay abound, written with rebus-style picture clues that beg readers to interpret their meaning. Anyone fascinated by the deciphering of a secret code will eagerly use answer keys to help solve the puzzles, and full-text solutions are provided at the back of the book. Christensen's rebus images are cleverly grouped into thematic units in which foods, household items, or transportation images are matched with individual poems, e.g., ``Birdie Boogie'' features rebus pictures of birds--a toucan, parrot, mynah, swift, puffin, and a pair of loons--for these lines: ``[Toucan] dance the rumba fine'' and ``they [puffin] pant and lie about.'' Exuberant watercolor on scratchboard illustrations are a free-spirited fandango of pantomime and play.”(Picture book. 6-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.